Of Caffeine, Street Cred and Box-Related Thinking: A Look at Starbucks’ Most Recent Successes

Since staying on the predictable path and only “green-lighting” projects with a proven track record (or a defined ROI) is the norm in the corporate world, companies have a huge opportunity to stand out from the pack by embracing ideas that push their products, services and campaigns past the expected.

One company that consistently wades and in many cases, jumps into innovative waters is Starbucks.

Beyond the company’s approach to test markets and new products that are mainstays in the food and beverage world, the coffee giant ties all of its efforts to the experience of the brand as one of a globally conscious, responsive “third place” complete with unexpected moments that allow its customers to escape (if only momentarily) from the rat race mentality of the modern world.

Below are just three examples illustrating some of Starbucks most recent and effective innovative moves.

Demonstrating Starbucks’ Broader Commitment

• Starbucks has a long history of programs, gifts and partnerships that demonstrate the company’s commitment to being a concerned global citizen. While corporate social responsibility is an immensely positive development over the past decade in particular, those standard categories of action are mostly the norm these days. On an unexpected front, Starbucks’ decision to construct a store out of shipping containers is a bold, real world testament to the company’s commitment to being a world-class corporate citizen. As an aside, I took a trip to the store over the weekend (hence the smartphone photos in the post) and was quite impressed by this location that embodies the company’s commitment to thinking differently in ways that benefit the planet and at the same time increase the sustainability of its stores while reducing operating costs.

Extending and Expanding the Brand Experience

• Somewhat akin to Disney’s approach to its parks and the broader brand, Starbucks essentially looks to infuse daily moments of escape, or what even feels a bit like magic, into the everyday lives of customers. The company has long been getting deserved credit for rethinking store flows and the in-store experience but it’s really the latest extensions that are most notable from an innovation point of view. The company’s latest foray into augmented reality, most recently with an augmented app to mark Valentine’s Day as a follow-up to the company’s holiday Magic Cup app extends the brand experience in unexpected ways. As augmented reality is in the very early stages, Starbucks’ campaigns smartly tap into upward trends while giving Starbucks more touch-points with its customers and at the same time expanding the brand experience.

Deepening the Customer Relationship

• Starbucks receives the most public credit for launching and maintaining My Starbucks Idea, a site that has been written up extensively since its launch in 2008. With the mission of helping Starbucks connect with its customers by “co-creating the future of the company with them,” the company’s first social media website has fostered a real community where customer feedback is embraced and leads to real change. In addition to prime placement in books like Groundswell, My Starbucks Idea continues to be the seen as the gold standard of customer inclusion and continues to inspire other companies’ efforts like the most recent Think Oven initiative by Domino’s. Starbucks’ excellent response and interaction track record across social networks, with response taking a priority on Twitter, and multimedia content and polls leading Facebook, have deepened the relationship with customers and have allowed Starbucks to amass over 30 million fans and followers.

Seemingly taking note from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s advice – “An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory. Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions.” – Starbucks successes are quite weighty indeed.

Through thoughtful strategy that ties back to the company’s core values, Starbucks has been able to embrace projects that are truly different; further distinguishing the company from corporate peers who only take the tried and tested approach. Like fellow innovators (Ford, Zappos and Southwest come to mind most immediately in the social sphere), Starbucks’ ability to break free from the risk-averse shackles will continue to serve as an inspiration to marketers, designers and communications people everywhere.