Personality vs. users image

Author: AL annd Valérie

What is Starbucks ’personality?

By applying the five dimensions of brand personality defined by Jenifer Aaker (1997), it seems that Starbucks has combined both “Sincerity” and “Excitement”.   Indeed, the assets that describes theses dimensions are:
- Sincerity: Down to earth, honest, wholesome, cheerful
-  Excitement: Daring, spirited, imaginative, up-to-date

From: valuebasedmanagement.net

Contrast between personality and users image

Integrating tradition and ecology in biggest cities worldwide that’s the originality of Starbucks ’concept. Indeed, there’s an interesting contrast to analyze between Starbucks ‘personality and its clients. 

Personality and values	Users image
Traditional Respectful Ethic and Social Federative Trendy	Modern Urban Active Young

In fact, Starbucks aims at creating a kind of zone out of cluttered cities where people can find a cool and peace but still connecting space. While, individualism, hurry and stress are key words in cities, Starbucks is clearly a smart concept that also perfectly fits ethic and sustainable trends. 

Starbucks "Brand Extension"

The advantage of Brand extension:

·The new product would open market quickly and easily.

·It would reduce cost of advertising and other marketing tools for new products

·The products would be more enrich in Starbucks and t would provide all kinds of choice to customers.

·it would be helpful to increase brand value.

The disadvantage of Brand extension

·The image of brand would more ambiguous

·The professional level decreased

·If one products fail in market, it would negatively affect other products and the whole brand.

Author: Yiran Jin

Starbucks' brand strategy

Author: Yiran Jin

Positioning strategy

Starbuck's positioning is the best coffee and becoming the "third place "---the good place for social network except office and home. In Starbucks, customers can taste the best coffee and experience the special romance. Starbucks can meet the customer's need of pursuing the fashion and social status.

 

The nature of brand's products

Experience

Against risks, how can enhance Starbucks brand?

Author: Yiran Jin

1. Enhance quality

Starbucks should keep their target which focus on making high quality coffee. They should make sure their quality of service and product instead of how many shop they plan to open.

2. Diversification

Starbucks can launch multi-brand to increase profit. For example,Coca cola has different brand which include sprite, Coca light etc..That multi-brand strategy would help Starbucks strength image of brand.

3. Service of quality
 

The Starbucks can keep their high price but at the same time, they should assure their good quality of product and service. Because the positioning of Starbucks is high quality of Coffee. So they should make sure their original raw materials provision.

What are the risks for Starbucks brand?

Author: Yiran Ji

In recent years, the development of Starbucks has been at extremely fast speed. So some problems were exposed and those problems negatively affect the Starbuck's brand.

 

• The quality of products and service is comparatively poor than before.eg., the bottle was not convenient for customers to hold, the previous milk was substituted for Nestle's milk. However, the price of Starbucks coffee is increased.

 

• Starbucks follow the example of Apple. Starbucks changed their logo into "the siren " without any word or slogan. It means Starbucks would launch other drink products,eg.,tea.instead of just target on coffee.The positioning of Starbucks is "high quality of coffee",if they are going to launch other drink ,they would break down their previous positioning.it makes no sense in the long run and it may bad for the brand.

• Short of value chain. In some countries. The providers were already replaced by local provider. The previous export-purchase model is disappeared.

In 2008, The president of Starbucks decided to close their 600 coffee shop and lay off 1,2000 employees.

Starbucks' Kano model

Authors: Valérie C. & Anne-Laure N.

The least we can say is that Starbucks has a strong personality: this map shows its consumers that the brand does not leave indifferent! Because the company has founded its entire strategy on the customer experience, they are the basis of brand identity. The typical consumer likes of Starbucks brand, it is surprised and attached to it. But it has not as followers: it is also hated and many groups on Facebook show that consumers are very disappointed assets and do not hesitate to express their hatred. Look at the Kano model of Starbucks, which shows a map of its consumers:

Brand equity of Starbucks

Brand awareness: Starbucks has already entered into 35 countries since 8 years ago; Starbucks opened the first overseas shop in Tokyo. Now, Starbucks is opened and increased 3 or 4 shops in average each day in the world.

Brand acceptance:There is unique business model and the harmonious team atmosphere in Starbucks to meet the customers need.

Brand association:Combination between coffee and culture

Brand Loyalty: Starbucks combine their social activities and coffee culture to achieve the emotional connection with customers and strength customers loyalty



Author: Yiran Jin

The feeling experience strategy of Starbucks brand

Author: Yi Ran J.

The sense of taste：

100% Arabica coffee bean. Starbucks provide the best quality of coffee bean and develop new varieties of coffee bean & Brewing method.

Smell:

"Starbucks" provides the strong smell of coffee.When people enter or just pass through the Starbucks, they can smell the incomparable aroma.

Vision:

The design and pictures are related to the coffee and build elegant and classical atmosphere.
Hearing：

"Starbucks "has their own music and their music is related to the coffee.
Touch:

"Starbucks" allow customers to touch the coffee beans and some appliances related to the coffee.

This feeling strategy makes customers only contact with "Starbucks" coffee when they enter to "Starbucks " coffee shop.

From the portrait of Starbucks brand to the portrait of a customer

Author: Anna N.

Interesting fact is when we try to match brand personality with the brand target audience, we can see that the Starbucks customer has really changed during the last years. Who was a typical Starbucks customer since a long time? This person should have certainly love coffee, even be addicted to coffee. It means he probably should have had an active life rhythm, as he needed something to cheer up and probably on a regular basis. He probably should have got enough money. He probably perceived himself as a person with a good taste and style and a certain knowledge of his needs, which means in the environment he mostly appreciated the style and personal attitude in service. If we have asked this person, with what type of personality Starbucks associates to you, he would definitely answer: the same as me. In spite of the fact that Starbucks is still associated with something stylish, the “style” of the customer has changed itself, transforming from something “luxury” to something more “clerk” or “hipster”. However, over 70% of respondents agreed to some extend that Starbucks is the best among competitors, but still across different countries Starbucks is now more associated with such low price segment competitors like McDonald’s or Dunkin Donuts, which also confirms the mentioned switch in the consumers’ mind. This switch may also explain the decline in the percentage of people, considering Starbucks to be a part of their lifestyle and visiting Starbucks following the “call of the heart” (graph 1, 2 & 3).

Graph 1: If you visit Starbucks on the regular bases, what is your main motivation?

Graph 2: How often do you visit Starbucks?

Graph 3: Remember your last visit to Starbucks. Why you choose it among other cafes?

Graph 4: Thinking about Starbucks brand values, choose 3 from the list that you appreciate most of all?

The survey results show that nowadays Starbucks for the customer is not about a tribute to fashion, like it was before, but more about practical benefits, like coffee taste and convenience of the café location (graph 4). 

Taking into account the above results we will not be surprised, why among the points of improvement the most of the respondents (30%) mentioned “reducing the prices” variant – if the brand is not considered as luxury anymore people are not willing to pay more. So what can be the reason of such a change in the consumers’ mind since the last years? Does it mean that today the customer, who remembers the Starbucks being a “cool place to go” and “cool cup to carry” just got more mature, with higher incomes and higher expectations? Or may be because today less and less people from the so called early adapters would like to be associated with “clerk” or “hipster”? And does these trends mean that Starbucks today should rely more on occasional customers rather then those, who are really addicted to the brand, and focus more on the new generation of young people and stake on the mass market rather then keeping to it’s selectivity? Still this is a rather common life circle for the majority of brands from being something special to being something cool, but already usual. And in most of the cases the brand doesn’t need to fight against changes in the consumers’ minds, but to follow the wave and move along with these changes, adapting its marketing strategy to them.We already can notice that Starbucks is adequately reacting to changes on the target market, for example, developing some loyalty programmes on the facebook platform, reaching the younger audience by this, as well as planning to open the “healthy food” points to respond to the needs of a more mature audience. So Starbucks still keeps its strong positions and strong brand perception. And moreover, it still gives a pleasant experience and makes people feel different. But may be just different (=other) people. And what do you think?

Starbuck's brand building blocks

Author: Valérie C.

We started the analysis of the brand positioning a few weeks ago with the identity prism, let's continue with the brand building blocks:

The competitive environment of Starbucks: Porter’s five forces

Author: Anne-Laure N.

To understand how Starbucks has become not only the leader in coffee, but also a strong and recognized brand, it is necessary to understand its strategy with its competitors. Both domestic as Tully's Coffee, Gloria Jean's, Caribou Coffee and international competitors such as Dunkin Donuts and McDonald's, always require Starbucks to evolve, differentiate and grow.

Let us study the Porter model to better analyze the strategy of the brand. This model aims to identify the forces in the competitive environment and their intensities, to adapt its strategy to gain competitive advantage and well, to make a profit above the industry average.

Starbuck's brand positionning: identity prism

Author: Valérie C.

Having a coffee, a hot chocolate or their famous Frappuccino means a lot when you’re in Starbucks. That you take it away or lie on sofas chatting with your friends, this is the Starbucks experience.

Cozy, connected are some words we can use to define this place. We all have opinions, images about the brand. But, what really are the brand values? How does the brand want to be seen? How does it interact with you? 

To answer those questions and better understand the brand positioning, let’s use the famous brand identity prism by Kapferer (1986):