Starbucks' Advertising

On May 2009, Starbucks created an advertising campaign that spread lots of messages on a common theme: "It's not just coffee, It's Starbucks". The ads were written on the newspapers and magazines.

Starbucks used a non-traditional style of advertising because they wanted to tell their stories. Therefore, lots of the ads were one page long, bringing information about the way they select the beans, emphasizing on the quality of their products.

For example, the ads "If your coffee isn't perfect, we'll make it over. If it's still not perfect, make sure you 're in a Starbucks" and " Beware of a cheaper cup of coffee. It comes with a price", are emphasizing the quality of their coffee and fight against the competition.

On that period McDonald's was promoting it's line of McCafe coffee drinks saying that they can offer an espresso for less money: "four bucks is dumb. now making espresso."

Starbucks wanted to communicate that they offer more than coffee, they bring value, history and information to their costumers. As a result, consumers are not paying only for coffee, they are getting Starbucks Experience and satisfaction.

Did these ads work?

My opinion is that the ads' messages were not able to convince a price sensitive costumer to go and buy a cup of coffee for over $4. While, for the regular costumers these messages could encourage and prove value. These ideas of bringing more information and being opened to the public show a tentative of closeness to the costumers; the company invite their costumers to be a part of their world.