Protect Your Culture

Starbucks hardly advertises, instead relying on its ubiquitous caf閟 to do the talking and create its 20 percent bump in global brand value. That means keeping them free of the clutter of other brands and products, which are constantly trying to piggyback on the Starbucks aura and access to 30 million weekly customers.

    At the same time, the chain has come to view its brand as a kind of cultural portal -- after co-producing a series of music CDs, Starbucks this year backed a book and a film. So it was a spirited discussion that took place within the Consumer Insight Group last fall about how to use the sacred store environment to promote the movie, "Akeelah and the Bee." Until then the chain had never sullied its caf閟 with movie posters or TV monitors.

    The answer was to make the caf閟 a sort of extension of the film, which is about an inner-city African American girl who competes in a national spelling bee. So last April vocabulary words from the contests in the film went on Starbucks cup sleeves and on caf?walls, challenging customers' vocabularies. It wasn't an overly obvious promotion.

    Rather than use traditional methods, says Senior Vice-President for Marketing Ann Saunders, new projects like this are launched "based mostly on our intuition and out of our brand culture.... We know when it feels right." Starbucks plans to co-produce at least two more movies next year.

Missteps have been helpful in understanding how to grow -- and how not to. Joe magazine, in 1999, was one. Magazines are a smaller niche than newspapers and a highly personal choice for consumers. After six months, Joe was tossed. Last year's "drinking chocolate," called Chantico, served in a dainty six-ounce cup, didn't work, either. It was too pricey at almost $3, in too small a cup, and had too many calories (390). Gone.

    Perhaps Starbucks' riskiest ventures are its music bars, which let customers compile songs on CDs or in MP3 folders from a song library. The bars change the atmosphere of the caf閟 and have been criticized in the media and on blogs as an unnecessary diversion.

    Saunders counters that customer satisfaction is high, and more music bars are likely next year. She knows the plan is ambitious. "But if you know where your brand lines really are, you can push them."