Marketing Initiatives by Starbucks

Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee company and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 19,555 stores in 58 countries, including 12,811 in the United States, 1,248 in Canada, 965 in Japan, 766 in Great Britain, 580 in China and 420 in South Korea. Mission: to inspire and nurture the human spirit one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time

Starbucks Marketing Initiatives:

Starbucks appoints new chief digital and information officer Starbucks, which continues building latte-buying smartphone apps and designing stores to be more digital-friendly, has created a chief digital officer position and filled it in-house with a senior VP, Adam Brotman At Starbucks, Brotman will oversee web, mobile, social media, card, loyalty, e-commerce, Wi-Fi, and the Starbucks Digital Network. He will also head up Starbucks in-store digital and entertainment teams. The Seattle coffee giant also named Curt Garner as chief information officer. Garner previously had been senior vice president of business technology. The digital restructuring, championed by chief executive Howard Schultz, has been four years in making, Brotman said. The radical move to create a chief digital officer position is soon to be copied by the biggest and brightest brands.

e-Commerce

Starbucks consumers enjoy from the enhanced shopping experience at StarbucksStore.com site. In addition to this, they can easily and quickly find the best coffee, teas and merchandise offerings. Unlike traditional coffee & tea range, the digital platform, which was developed with by a global e-commerce solution provider PFSweb, consumers benefit from a great deal of extra services like subscription, tasting tours and prepaid gift cards across the U.S. territories.

Starbucks Brews Loyalty with Mobile Payment

One of Starbucks digital means for customer engagement is a mobile payment system thats years ahead of the curve in terms of adoption. As of April, Starbucks had processed more than 45 million mobile payments. Starbucks released mobile pay, a prominent feature of the companys iPhone and Android applications, in January 2011. Customers use the mobile app to load money on to a digital Starbucks Card and then present a 2D barcode to pay at the register. For Starbucks, mobile pay is one of 10 core digital businesses that the coffee conglomerate attributes to enhancing its relationship with customers. Recognized by U.S. News as one of America's Most Connected Companies for implementing the largest mobile-payment program in North America, Starbucks says the technology is boosting sales. Since the launch, customers have made 45 million mobile payments in the United States and are now averaging a million transactions a week, says Linda Mills, a company spokeswoman. She adds that Starbucks has experienced a ten-fold increase in mobile-payment use from March 2011 to March 2012. "They've really enhanced the customer experience at point of sales," says Dene Carrington, senior analyst with Forrester Research. "There's an element of fun" that happens when people pay with mobile phones, explains Carrington, who expects other companies to follow Starbucks' lead with similar initiatives.

Starbucks for Android Enter your Starbucks Card number and your Android phone becomes your Starbucks Card! Your device will display a barcode you can use as your Starbucks Card to make purchases. Its fast. Its easy. And its a revolution in mobile payment. Mobile Pay is available at nearly 6,800 company-operated

Starbucks stores, including all Target Starbucks stores, in the United States. And thats not all. You can register your card, check your balance and track the Stars you earn toward free beverages through My Starbucks Rewards, and reload your balance

Starbucks for iPhone With Starbucks for iPhone, you can manage your Starbucks Card balance, reload your Card, track your Stars in the My Starbucks Rewards program and send a friend an eGift! And thats not all. The easy-to-navigate store locator lets you search by amenities and get directions. Explore its whole bean coffees, find nutrition information and build your own perfect drinks. Want to Share? You can send you favorite drinks or share your location with Facebook and Twitter integrations to support your social life!

Starbucks is the Nation's Most Socially Engaged Company

Hip to Twitter before it was cool, Starbucks now has a loyal following of 2.5 million people and has been known to run a promotion or two through the information network. There are also more than 30 million Facebook users who like the company on the worlds biggest social network and happily engage with Starbucks status updates.

Twitter has proven to be an incredibly valuable tool for Starbucks. Its brand building strategies have made it the eighth most popular company on the microblogging site, beating out gargantuan companies like Walmart, McDonalds, and Microsoft.

With 30 million Likes, the Starbucks Facebook Page is a large forum indeed. Besides the usual corporate fare product highlights, promos, special deals, and innocuous engagement posts the Starbucks Facebook Page is also place for spirited discussion not only of its products, but also of the companys positions. Starbucks has no qualms about spending on Facebook advertisements, Brotman said, though the company does put a lot of thought into its promoted media strategy.

Over 13000 people subscribe to Starbucks YouTube Channel. They upload videos of commercials as well as informational videos explaining the origins of the different coffee blends

and some of their charity work videos. They also upload videos showing their history thus enabling people to relate more to the brand. Starbucks also allows people to embed its videos anywhere they like on the Web.

My Starbucks Idea Starbucks own version of a social network where customers are asked to share their ideas on anything related to Starbucks. The site gives users the ability to see what others are suggesting, vote on ideas and check out the results. This site is a brilliant and important aspect of Starbucks social media strategy. Users who are part of this network feel that they have some role in the decision making process of the company and it makes them feel a part of it.

Along with the original @Starbucks account, the company started @MyStarbucksIdea, where its 30,000+ followers can feel free to send in ideas on how to make their overall experiences better. On a separate blog, Starbucks lists ideas that were put into action. These include new kinds of cake pop flavors, bringing back Ethiopia Sidamo coffee, and improving recycling methods for the stores.

Starbucks Blog entitled Ideas in Action - This blog is written by various Starbucks employees and talks about what Starbucks is doing with the ideas given by users on the My Starbucks Idea site. The blog keeps customers in the loop and in the know regarding whats happening with their ideas and increases their sense of loyalty to the brand.

Instagram continues to be a strong and growing community for Starbucks, a company spokesperson added, pointing to the 173 photos the brand has posted and the more than 600,000 user photos with the #starbucks tag. While heavy on product shots, Starbucks Instagram photos are artistic, and play into the emotional connections Starbucks has built with people through every customized cup of coffee. Starbucks fans can engage with the brand without even being in a location by responding to regular calls to action using the hashtag #starbucks.

Not a brand to sit back and watch as trends take shape, Starbucks is, of course, also on Pinterest. The company set up shop there in late April and has a growing following.

Starbucks creates goodwill through Non-profit program

Fighting AIDS through Foursquare check-ins and lattes, non-profit (RED), Starbucks, and the location-based startup partnered up for a 10-day fundraising and AIDS awareness campaign. From June 1 to 10, Starbucks donated $1 to the Global Fund, the recipient of (RED) money, for every Foursquare check-in at any of its locations in the U.S. and Canada. The partnership and check-in campaign, which raised up to $250,000, aiming to spread the word via social media channels around (RED)s Rush to Zero campaign, an effort that seeks to eliminate the mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2015.

Starbucks has teamed up with Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) to help create

and sustain jobs. The Create Jobs for USA program provides capital grants to select Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). The CDFIs will provide loans to underserved community businesses, which include small businesses, microenterprises, nonprofit organizations, commercial real estate, and affordable housing. The goal of Create Jobs for USA is to bring people and communities together to create and sustain jobs throughout America. The Create Jobs for USA program initially was seeded with a $5 million contribution from the Starbucks Foundation. People can support the initiative by making a donation to the Create Jobs for USA fund. Donations are accepted at company-operated U.S. Starbucks stores and online at createjobsforUSA.org. For donations of $5 or more, donors will receive an American-made Indivisible wristband. Adam Brotman says,Since the November 2011 launch of our Create Jobs initiative, weve raised more than $10 million in donations, thereby directly supporting approximately $70 million in new financing. Part of the goal of this program was to bring in other like-minded companies so that we can amplify the good were doing and ultimately create more jobs. Both Google Offers and Banana Republic recently joined us in their support of Create Jobs and each held special programs to engage their customers. Google Offers hosted a special social gifting offer whereby people could purchase a $10 Starbucks Card eGift card for $5, and for every offer sold, Google Offers donated $3 to the Create Jobs initiative. Banana Republic introduced special shopping events where customers receive 25 percent off their purchases, and Banana Republic donated 5 percent of total purchases to the Create Jobs for USA Fund.

In April, Starbucks also celebrated its commitment to community by hosting its second annual Global Month of Service, activating its partners (employees) and customers around the world to participate in meaningful service activities that address the unique needs of their local neighborhoods. It also introduced a new Community Card: Vote.Give.Grow. program whereby The Starbucks Foundation invested $4 million into local U.S. communities through grants to 124 nonprofits operating in these neighborhoods. Starbucks invited its partners and customers to help direct this funding by voting on local nonprofits in their community. The size of each grant was determined by the votes cast online through the month of April while the top-ranking organizations in each program geography received the largest grants, all participating nonprofits received funding from the Starbucks Foundation so they can continue to help their communities with important programs.

Starbucks Community Stores

Starbucks has a long history of helping communities thrive. Starbucks has a long history of supporting communities. Starbucks community stores are a new development in that story, one where our stores play a direct role in helping their neighborhoods. In Los Angeles and New York City, we are collaborating with two innovative nonprofit organizations to support their neighborhood

revitalization efforts and improve community education, employment, health, housing and safety. A donation from each transaction at from the Starbucks community stores in the Harlem and Crenshaw neighborhoods is being shared with Abyssinian Development Corporation and the Los Angeles Urban League.

Starbucks free Wi-Fi

Starbucks offers free, one-click, unlimited Wi-Fi at all company-owned stores in the United States, including instant access to the Starbucks Digital Network. Theres no purchase or subscription required, no password needed and no time limit on your session. Just open a browser on your laptop or mobile device and click Connect. Starbucks provides you with a great digital experience to go with your great cup of coffee.

Starbucks Digital Network

When youre at Starbucks, you get more than free Wi-Fi you also get access to the Starbucks Digital Network in Partnership with Yahoo!

The Starbucks Digital Network serves up fresh content and plenty of surprises from the biggest names in news and entertainment. The website at starbucks.yahoo.com is a rich blend of great things to read, watch and listen to making your coffeehouse experience even more enjoyable.

Get breaking news and much more with free access to subscription editions of The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today, The Economist, and ESPN Insider. Listen to great music from Apple and Starbucks Entertainment. Kick back with exclusive iTunes downloads as you read the latest thoughts on our music blog. Something for everyone with free access to everything from Nick Jr. and Marvel Digital Comics to documentaries from Snag Films.