Starbucks Case Study

Arts 224-002

Gwenyth Gunderson

Section 1:

Jonesboro, Georgia Starbucks &

Corporate Starbucks Overview

The local Jonesboro Starbucks opened in July 2019 and was originally created to “support economic devleopment in diverse, undeserved areas of the country” (Starbucks). This special Starbucks creates jobs for the community, while also partnering with other local businesses and nonprofits in the area to help support and engage the community. It is the first of its kind in Georgia, created for relationships and connections in the local community. The Jonesboro Starbucks has partnered with a “minority-owned gneral contractor” to help construct the store. In addition, the collage art hung up in the store is created by local artist Marryam Moma. According to Starbucks, art is important because it reflects the “rich cultural heritage of human connection, empowerment and beauty.” Not only does this store showcase locals, it also creates a space for local nonprofits to hold seminars to help youth in the community learn more about the workforce. In order to do this, there is a partnership with United Way of Greater Atlanta. This Starbucks also joins with the Child Well-Being Movement to positively impact local children and families’ well-being. (Starbucks)

Starbucks originally first opened in 1971 in Pike Place Market, Seattle. The name is known to come from “Moby-Dick’s” tales. A man named Howard Schultz joined the company in 1982 and introduced a new, artistic culture to Starbucks. This caused Starbucks to rebrand and add in more color to their brand, including the green aprons. Eventally, stores expanded across the U.S. and Canada, and eventually started to expand across the world in 1998. Starbucks has been successful for years at brewing coffee that makes customers happy. Eventaully in 2015, Starbucks started the community store programs, the first one being in Missouri in 2016. (Starbucks).

Photo taken from Starbucks Stories & News

Mission Statements

Local

to “suppport economic development in diverse, undeserved areas of the country” (Starbucks).

Corporate

“With every cup, with every conversation, with every community -- we nurutre the limitless possibilities of human connection” (Starbucks).

Photo taken from Starbucks Stories & News

Demographics & Audience

Population: 4,415 People

Gender: 55% Male

45% Female

Households:

Median Income: $33,621

36.7% below poverty line

Families: 35% married 65% single

Average family size: 3.16

Job Status:

34.1 % employment rate

6.2% unemployment rate

Media Preferences:

Facebok (73.24%)

Instagram (9.51%)

Pinterest (8.2%)

Age Median:

33.5 years old

21% under 18, 67% 18-64, 11% 65 and over

Education:

69.5% high school grad or higher

6.4% Bachelor’s degree or higher

No Degree: 30%

High School: 45%

Some college: 18%

Bachelor’s Degree: 5%

Post-grad: 1%

Religion: 44% religous Largest Afifiliations: Baptist: 11.8% Catholic: 4%

Eastern: 4.2%

Other Christian: 18%

Social Activities: Black History Month Events

Community Events Game Nights

Local Competitors

What makes them stand out?

Dunkin’

Cheap coffee

Donut variety

Other food options

Fresh Smoothie

Cafe

Healthy choices

Serve all meals, desserts, and variety of drinks

Children-friendly

Catering

Fig Tree Cafe

Christian values

Short walk from church

“Bold and flavorful coffee”

Serve all three meals, plus desserts

Take prayer requests

Jonesboro Starbucks Strengths/ Weaknesses

Strengths:

The local Jonesboro’s strengths include offering lower than normal prices and cultivating community among locals.

Weaknesses:

The primary weakness of the Jonesboro Starbucks is that it makes less money due to the lower prices they offer.

Photo taken from Starbucks Stories & News

Corporate Starbucks Strengths/ Weaknesses

Strengths:

Corporately, Starbucks is good at keeping a solid, consistent brand image. They also have a high number of locations that lead to a strong brand awareness.

Weaknesses:

Corporate Starbucks loses customers with its high prices, along with the company being considered to be more “basic.” The company also tries to reach many types of people, making it hard to captivate the attention of one specific target audience.

Section 2: Visual Audit

Part A: Starbucks

The goal of this poster is to promote the nitro cold brew. The message being communicated is that the nitro cold brew is “cold, lush and velvety-smooth,” hoping to bring customers in to taste. The concepts used in this poster include repetition with the drinks and typography, along with alignment with both of those pieces as well. To make this advertisement better, the Starbucks logo should be addedd somewhere to make it more recognizable. In addition to this, the color scheme seems a bit off from the original Starbucks color scheme and geared more towards summer. It would be helpful to change the colors to make the poster more recognizable and fit the season. Lastly, the text should be aligned to one side instead of the center. This makes it easier to find the information and process it.

The goal of this social media post is to introduce a new product, the Iced Cloud Macchiatos, to the public. The message this advertisement is communicating is that the new macchiatos are “light and fluffy” and customers should come in to try them. The concepts used in this post are contrast and proximity. There is a nice contrast between the colors used, so the green starbucks logo and drink colors pop out from the clouds. The colors are also light on the eyes, complimenting the drink name and relation to the sky. Proximity is also used with the clouds and the drinks close together. Although this is a good advertisement, I would suggest that the name of the new drink be put somewhere on the picture to help make it known that the product is new.

The goal of this poster is to announce the new Cloud Macchiato drink. The message this poster is communicating is that the Cloud Macchiato is a new drink with foam layers that make the drink “fluffy.” The concepts used are contrast and proximity. There is contrast between the background colors and the drink, making the colors of the macchiato and the description of the drink stand out. Proximity is also used with the clouds in the background and the information below the drink. Something that could improve this poster is either making the words “float away” more visible or taking them out completely. The words are not relevant to what the poster is trying to communicate, therefore they should not be there.

The goal of this poster is to promote the Pumpkin Spice Latte. The message this poster is trying to communicate to customers is that they should say “yes” to a “PSL.” The concepts used in this poster design are contrast and alignment. There is an obvious contrast used between the oranges and browns to communicate the fall drink. In addition, alignment is used to align the drink and words to the left. This alignment makes the design more pleasing to the eye. To make this design better, the ”yes” should not be bolded because it takes away from the importance of the “PSL.” The drink name should also be made larger and more visible, along with a Starbucks logo being added somewhere.

Part B: Local Competitors

The goal of this poster is to showcase the new pumpkin fall drinks. The message the poster is portraying to customers is that Dunkin’ has figured out a new way “to pumpkin,” making it stand out from its competitors. The concepts used in the advertisement are contrast and repetition. Contrast is used among the oranges and type color, while repetition is used with the shadows and drinks following in the background. To make this poster better, it would be helpful to specify what pumpkin drinks are being showcased in the photo. Another suggestion would be to make the words more visible and bigger so that the eyes go there first.

The goal of this Instagram post is to bring customers into the restaurant. However, the message that the post is portraying is unclear and is confused with showcasing a certain product on the menu. There are also no clear design concepts used in the post, due to it only being a picture. To improve this advertisement, it would be helpful to add the product’s name that is showcased in the picture. Graphics could be added to the picture to make it more appealing as well. Some sort of explanation of the product being showcased would be helpful as well, along with the hours that it is open.

The goal of this advertisement is to showcase a new fall drink at the Fig Tree Café. The message being communicated to customers is that they should try the new drink to celebrate the fall season. Regarding design concepts that are used in this post, alignment and proximity are used. The text and drink are aligned to the center, and proximity is used to keep the text close to the main object (the drink). However, proximity can be improved by keeping all the text together, instead of separating it. Overall, the advertisement could be improved by lowering the opacity of the background to make the drink and words pop out more. The text color is hard to read with the background, so lowering the opacity could help this issue. Additionally, it would be helpful to specify what social media platforms the username is used for or take it out of the post completely. Lastly, it would be helpful to have a more in-depth description of the drink.

Part 2:

Project Brief

Company Overview:

The Jonesboro, GA Starbucks is part of the Community Store initiative to support the local community and economic development.

Goals of the Project:

With our employees being from Jonesboro, they know and have relationships with the community. We want to continue to build upon that by ensuring that our community, both customers and employees feel loved and supported all year long but especially during the holidays. For this reason we want to develop a holiday promotional poster for our local Starbucks in Jonesboro, Georgia.

Target Audience:

The Jonesboro, GA Starbucks is part of the Community Store initiative to support the local community and economic development.

Project Budget:

$500

Competitor Information:

Dunkin’, McDonalds, Dollar Cafe, Waffle House

Timeline/Schedule:

Deadline: 1.5 months before the holiday

Brainstorming

Event Ideas

This event would be a night consisting of chips, salsa, dancing & coffee. This night would be an opportunity for singles to meet other singles, but also for couples to come out and dance as well. It wouldn’t be a complete night of salsa dancing without salsa! So, the local Starbucks would not only offer a special new, spicy coffee drink, but also chips and salsa to snack on throughout the night.

Share the Love with Coffee Tasting

This event would be centered around sharing the love through a cup of coffee. This night would offer coffee-making classes for both singles and couples. This night would allow the local Starbucks to love on the community with the class while also allowing community members to get to know each other more over a cup of coffee. After the class, participants would have a chance to try their own coffee, made from the special Valentine’s Day menu, and then chat with others in the community space.

Community Market

This event would be an evening of gathering the community together for a market with local vendors. The focus of the vendors would mostly be on art. There would be coffee provided and available for purchase. This event would also showcase local artists and offer short painting classes.

Salsa Dancing Night

This event would put a fun twist on speed dating -- with puppies! Not only is this a night with speed dating for singles in the local community, but also a night to speed date with some puppies too! A local animal shelter would bring in puppies up for adoption, in hope of finding them some new homes. This event would showcase the Starbucks “puppicino” and a new Valentine’s Day frappacino too.

This is the best option because it includes everyone, both singles and those in relationsihps. It also puts a fun twist on a traditional Valeninte’s Day activity.

This event would be a night consisting of a fun game night for singles. The theme of the night would go along with a deck of cards: kings, find your queen.” Speed dating would be included in this night of games to help singles “find their match” with both a partner and coffee.

This event would be a night full of trivia and coffee. The theme of trivia would be love, specifically focusing on stages of love written about by Taylor Swift and other musical artists.

This event would be focused on showing the love to local artists. There would be artist showcases and auctions. There would be art demonstrations and lessons happening in the community space as well. This is a night of encouragement, support, and, of course, coffee.

Puppy Love

Kings & Queens Game Night

Trivia Night: X’s & O’s

Show the Love to Local Artists

Proposal

Purpose of poster:

The purpose of the poster is to invite the Jonesboro community to a holiday event to help encourage and cultivate community and local relationships.

Hope to accomplish:

This poster aims to accomplish the goal of strengthening the Jonesboro community.

Holiday:

Tone, Message, & Style:

Valentine’s Day

The tone of this poster will aim to be welcoming and cute. It will put people in a loving-mood and encourage “puppy dog eyes” with the visuals. The message itself will focus on puppy love: Specifically, inviting singles to enjoy a night of speed dating, and for those who are not looking for a Valentine’s Day date to look for a new puppy. The poster will also showcase the Starbucks Valentine’s Day frappacino.

Moodboard

Sample Holiday Promotional Tactics

Photo taken from Starbucks Aruba, Facebook

Photo taken from Dunkin’ Newsroom

Sketches

Rough Drafts

Puppy Love

Final Draft

Final Mockup

References

Fresh Smoothie Cafe: Vegetarian | Jonesboro, https://www.freshsmoothiecafe.com.

YouTube: Home, 3 June 2009, https:// www.instagram.com/freshsmoothiecafe/?hl=en.

“About Us.” Starbucks, https://www.starbucks.com/about-us/.

“Case Studies.” Starbucks Creative Expression, https://creative.starbucks.com/ case-studies/.

“Case Studies.” Starbucks Creative Expression, https://creative.starbucks.com/ case-studies/.

Dubey, Jessica, and Connor Surdi. “Welcome to Jonesboro, Ga., Home of Newest Starbucks Community Store.” Starbucks Stories, 12 July 2019, https://stories. starbucks.com/stories/2019/welcome-tojonesboro-ga-home-of-newest-starbuckscommunity-store/.

“Dunkin’ at 6622 Tara Blvd in Jonesboro | Coffee, Espresso and Donuts | Dunkin.’” Dunkin’ locations, https://locations. dunkindonuts.com/en/ga/jonesboro/6622tara-blvd/330026.

“Fig Tree Café – FBC Jonesboro.” FBC Jonesboro, https://fbcjonesboro.com/figtree/.

“Fig Tree Cafe Jonesboro (@figtreecafejonesboro) • Instagram photos and videos.” Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/ figtreecafejonesboro/?hl=en.

“The Inside Story Behind Pumpkin at Dunkin.’” Dunkin, 18 August 2021, https:// news.dunkindonuts.com/blog/the-story-behind-pumpkin-dunkin.

“Jonesboro, GA Community Events.” Eventbrite, https://www.eventbrite.com/b/ ga--jonesboro/community/.

“Jonesboro, GA - Profile data.” Census Reporter, https://censusreporter.org/profiles/16000US1342604-jonesboro-ga/.

“Jonesboro, Georgia Population 2024.” World Population Review, https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/jonesboro-ga-population.

“Social Media Stats Georgia | Statcounter Global Stats.” StatCounter Global Stats, https://gs.statcounter.com/social-media-stats/all/georgia.

“Starbucks opens Community Store in Jonesboro, Ga.” Starbucks Stories, 11 July 2019, https://stories.starbucks.com/ press/2019/starbucks-opens-communitystore-in-jonesboro-ga/.

“Theory.” Starbucks Creative Expression, https://creative.starbucks.com/theory/.

“2024 Compare Cities Religion: Jonesboro, GA vs Decatur, GA.” Best Places, https:// www.bestplaces.net/compare-cities/jonesboro_ga/decatur_ga/religion.