Designing the starbucks brand
Following its inception in 1971, Starbucks’ main corporate focus was creating a distinct brand, opening new stores, and gaining loyal customers that would seek Starbucks coffee-shops wherever they traveled in the world. In order to accomplish their goal of attracting customers, they focused on creating a unique brand of coffee shops that reimagined the social context and customer experience of the present coffee shop culture. Although today it is difficult to imagine Starbucks as anything besides a global empire, with constantly busy coffee shops and customers who loyally stop by every day on their way to work, they had to deliberately design their brand to achieve such a reputation. For example, although Starbucks opened over 1,000 new stores in 2013 alone, until the early 1990s there were only fewer than 100 Starbucks shops in existence. Ultimately, Starbucks was able to achieve global dominance because of their ability to create a cultural space that offered a customer experience, community culture, and unique coffee house atmosphere that had not been previously available to society.
Many sociologists have studied Starbucks’ particular success in establishing a culture that transcends a place where customers pick up a quick coffee, and instead has developed into a location that customers cherish as a place of comfort, habit, and familiarity. Joseph Michelli’s book, The Starbucks Experience, suggests that Starbucks has demonstrated unprecedented corporate success in turning a seemingly ordinary concept of the coffee shop into an extraordinary powerful business. Furthermore, Michelli discusses the ways in which Starbucks’ success derived from its ability to establish personalized customer experiences and simultaneously secure customer loyalty, stimulate economic growth and profits, and motivate its employees. The Starbucks Mission Statement states the following:
Many sociologists have studied Starbucks’ particular success in establishing a culture that transcends a place where customers pick up a quick coffee, and instead has developed into a location that customers cherish as a place of comfort, habit, and familiarity. Joseph Michelli’s book, The Starbucks Experience, suggests that Starbucks has demonstrated unprecedented corporate success in turning a seemingly ordinary concept of the coffee shop into an extraordinary powerful business. Furthermore, Michelli discusses the ways in which Starbucks’ success derived from its ability to establish personalized customer experiences and simultaneously secure customer loyalty, stimulate economic growth and profits, and motivate its employees. The Starbucks Mission Statement states the following:
Expect More Than Coffee:
We’re not just passionate purveyors of coffee, but everything else that goes with a full and rewarding coffeehouse experience. We also offer a selection of premium Tazo® teas, fine pastries and other delectable treats to please the taste buds. And the music you hear in store is chosen for its artistry and appeal.
It’s not unusual to see people coming to Starbucks to chat, meet up or even work. We’re a neighborhood gathering place, a part of the daily routine – and we couldn’t be happier about it. Get to know us and you’ll see: we are so much more than what we brew.
Our Customers:
When we are fully engaged, we connect with, laugh with, and uplift the lives of our customers – even if just for a few moments. Sure, it starts with the promise of a perfectly made beverage, but our work goes far beyond that. It’s really about human connection.
Our Stores:
When our customers feel this sense of belonging, our stores become a haven, a break from the worries outside, a place where you can meet with friends. It’s about enjoyment at the speed of life – sometimes slow and savored, sometimes faster. Always full of humanity.
This dedication to creating stores that exude a sense of belonging and create human connections with customers has been termed the theory of “third-places.” Overall, third-places are cultural spaces that fall between the professionalism of the work and intimacy of the personal sphere, and consequently allow for informal social engagements and a sense of community. In the words of one Starbucks store manager, "We want to provide all the comforts of your home and office. You can sit in a nice chair, talk on your phone, look out the window, surf the web... oh, and drink coffee too.” One might imagine that the main goal of a coffee shop would be to make good coffee that people want to drink. However, Starbucks developed its brand not by focusing on the coffee (although they of course strived to make the best coffee possible), but instead by establishing a societal norm of a coffee shop as a third-place. Following the third-place theory, every person needs a place other than Home or Work where they feel a sense of belonging, community, and camaraderie. Starbucks recognized that customers wanted a place where they could sit in comfy chairs while they work, be around a warm and inviting atmosphere, and feel welcome by the employees.
Moreover, Starbucks' business success differs from many of its counterparts because it has rested on the creation of space and not a product. The coffee shop, rather than the coffee, has shaped the brand, reputation, and image of the Starbucks Company while simultaneously reimagining the social meaning of a coffee shop. As a result, the Starbucks coffee shop has filled the psychological need that had not been as sufficiently met before its conception by establishing mainstream, accessible chain of third-places. This need for the third place may seem abstract and even superfluous when compared to the impact of Home and Work on a person’s happiness, but in fact has been studied as a legitimate psychological need. Sociologist Ray Oldendburg, PhD wrote specifically on the social impact of various third-places throughout history. According to his research, the third-place is essential to psychological health because it is a voluntary place where people can feel connected with the freedom of lack of obligation. In the words of a Starbucks spokesperson:
Moreover, Starbucks' business success differs from many of its counterparts because it has rested on the creation of space and not a product. The coffee shop, rather than the coffee, has shaped the brand, reputation, and image of the Starbucks Company while simultaneously reimagining the social meaning of a coffee shop. As a result, the Starbucks coffee shop has filled the psychological need that had not been as sufficiently met before its conception by establishing mainstream, accessible chain of third-places. This need for the third place may seem abstract and even superfluous when compared to the impact of Home and Work on a person’s happiness, but in fact has been studied as a legitimate psychological need. Sociologist Ray Oldendburg, PhD wrote specifically on the social impact of various third-places throughout history. According to his research, the third-place is essential to psychological health because it is a voluntary place where people can feel connected with the freedom of lack of obligation. In the words of a Starbucks spokesperson:
Since 1971, Starbucks stores have become a Third Place – a comfortable, sociable gathering spot away from home and work, like an extension of the front porch. People connect with Starbucks because they related to what we stand for. It’s the romance of the coffee experience, the feeling of warmth and community people get in Starbucks stores. As a standard course of business, we continually evaluate our store portfolio, and review and evaluate our locations to ensure a healthy store portfolio that fits the needs of the community.
One one hand, the success of Starbucks' brand and the coffee shop grew from the company's creation of the coffee shop as an accessible third place. On the other hand, the global triumph of Starbucks coffee shops also outwardly demonstrates the societal value of third places across cultures. There is no doubt that Starbucks has undeniably established a powerful system of customer experience that has filled a void that society so desperately craved. People keep going back to Starbucks because it is a place where they can get a sense of camaraderie and comfort outside of Home and Work.
Starbucks could not have succeeded in so successfully re-designing the coffee shop without deliberately focusing on "brand thinking." Former Starbucks creative director Stanley Hainsworth suggests that Starbucks steadfastly focused on designing its brand based around the desire to establish an emotional connection with customers rather than simply focus on the creation of a product. In an interview with Fast Company magazine, the expert on branding stated:
A brand is an entity that engenders an emotional connection with a consumer. Consumers emotionally connect with brands when the brands repeatedly provide something that the consumer wants, desires, or needs. I think the best brands are those that create something for consumers that they don't even know they need yet. A coffee brand like Starbucks created something people didn't know they needed. I think when people are surprised or delighted by how a brand can change their lives by just making it a little bit better--or a little bit more fun or a little more performance-oriented--that's when they start creating a connection with that brand. There are other companies that make great running shoes or great toys or great detergent or soap, but what is the real differentiator that people keep coming back for? For Starbucks, it was creating a community, a "third place." It was a very conscious attribute of the brand all along and impacted every decision about the experience: who the furniture was chosen for, what artwork would be on the walls, what music was going to be played, and how it would be played.
Unlike the coffee shops before them, Starbucks devoted its mission to creating the best possible customer experience and becoming the third place that people may not even have known they desired. They created their brand by gaining loyal customers who appreciated the newfound coffee shop that fostered community and belonging over a quick cup of coffee for the road. Starbucks was deliberate in their intentions to focus on customer experience over coffee and offer customers a place that filled a particular psychological need that they were not even aware then needed. Of course there are certainly customers who choose Starbucks simply because they can get a convenient cup of coffee on their way to work, but Starbucks gained its following by filling a cultural void and creating an atmosphere that customers quickly adopted as their third place.
Bibliography
1) http://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2013/10/09/starbucks-is-turning-a-third-place-into-a-kind-place/
2) http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2012/05/29/starbucks-hold-on-us-is-bigger-than-coffee-its-psychology/
3) http://www.fastcompany.com/welcome.html?destination=http://www.fastcompany.com/887990/starbucks-third-place-and-creating-ultimate-customer-experiencehttp://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/02/11/starbucks-brands-dumb-starbucks/5399351/
4) http://www.starbucks.com/about-us/company-information/mission-statement
5) http://www.starbucksexperience.net
6) http://www.fastcompany.com/1777409/how-starbucks-transformed-coffee-commodity-4-splurge
1) http://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2013/10/09/starbucks-is-turning-a-third-place-into-a-kind-place/
2) http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2012/05/29/starbucks-hold-on-us-is-bigger-than-coffee-its-psychology/
3) http://www.fastcompany.com/welcome.html?destination=http://www.fastcompany.com/887990/starbucks-third-place-and-creating-ultimate-customer-experiencehttp://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/02/11/starbucks-brands-dumb-starbucks/5399351/
4) http://www.starbucks.com/about-us/company-information/mission-statement
5) http://www.starbucksexperience.net
6) http://www.fastcompany.com/1777409/how-starbucks-transformed-coffee-commodity-4-splurge