Action speaks loudest for Starbucks

Starbucks
is one of the best examples of a brand that has achieved worldwide domination without much help from traditional advertising.

How many times have you ever seen a Starbucks print or television ad, for example? How many times have you heard about a promotional deal at Starbucks on the radio while driving to work?

Instead of pumping millions of dollars into advertising and marketing campaigns, Starbucks owes its success to a very simple formula a distinctive in-store experience, and word-of-mouth marketing undertaken for free by its many millions of customers worldwide.

"Starbucks marketing is values-based," says Mike Hoff, business director, Starbucks Coffee Middle East.

"Through becoming part of the local community, our words and actions speak for themselves. Generally we use the strength of our in-store experience and point-of-sale promotion as the most powerful means to reach our customers."

The brand has, according to Hoff, two cornerstones the quality of its coffee and its workforce, which he says strives to provide customers with the best possible service.

"We apply the highest standards of excellence to the selection, roasting and preparation of our coffee products," says Hoff. "In addition, we invest in the training of our employees. Baristas around the world receive the same comprehensive training as baristas in the United States. Because of this, our guests can rest assured that they will taste our passion for coffee in every cup at every Starbucks around the world."

Whether it's tall or short, semi-skimmed or decaf, Starbucks offers consumers a personal touch by preparing drinks that cater to individual tastes.

"We provide handcrafted beverages and a unique coffee experience around the world," says Hoff. "Starbucks stores represent the 'third place' a place between work and home where you can sit back and connect over a great cup of coffee."

It's not just coffee and fancy, frothy drinks that make Starbucks stand out. Whether it's catching up with friends, or catching up with work, Starbucks is positioned as a place where customers can do very different things in the same, relaxing atmosphere.

"While Starbucks has been credited with creating and growing the modern coffeehouse culture, we offer a unique opportunity for our customers the Starbucks experience," Hoff says. "What this means is that, at Starbucks, our product is not just great coffee but the total experience, which is what we believe makes our customers return time and time again."

Another key aspect is technology Wifi to be precise. Walk past any Starbucks and you're bound to see people tapping away on laptops.

"As easy as ordering a latte, Starbucks customers can also check e-mails, surf the web, watch streaming video or download multi-media presentations as part of the Starbucks experience," says Hoff.

"This service is a natural extension of the Starbucks coffeehouse experience, which has always been about staying connected with people and information over a cup of the world's best coffee."

Like many multinationals, Starbucks has at times found itself under scrutiny from the media and a public concerned about issues of fair trade and sustainable development.

Such issues have, however, been of more concern in the US and UK than in the Middle East, and the brand has been embraced here hassle free.

The key challenge for Starbucks in this part of the world will be for it to manage rapid growth while at the same time holding dear to the values that have made it successful.

It has posted an impressive 20% growth among the list, second only to Google. Similarly, it has been voted the fourth favourite brand globally based on Brand Channel's readers' choice survey 2005.

They have managed to do all this by using their employees and retail space as their key communication vehicles, proof that traditional advertising and marketing is not the only way to build a strong brand. If I was to look for words that consumers would associate with Starbucks, they would be Americana, premium, legendary, fashionable. It's Italian espresso-style presented in a self-service format.

And yes, it does carry a strong flavour of Americana with it part of the reason behind its success and the very real baggage which needs to be considered in any future brand strategy.

To Starbucks' credit, they have done a great job in managing this baggage as compared to other US brands. Is it polarising? It certainly is, but I don't think everyone has to love it.

It is very distinctive across all of its key brand attributes. While it is probably easy to replicate the "Starbucks experience" on a small scale, it's very difficult to match its consistency, quality and relevance on a large scale.

So, if Starbucks was a person standing next to me, I would tell him to be very confident of himself and just live it up more. He can definitely benefit from more edge and experimentation. Remedy ?

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