Bulletin Starbucks

7/28/2019 Bulletin Starbucks

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Starbucks

Once a U.S. company that operated

internationally, Starbucks is now a

truly global company.Karin Koonings, Vice President of Marketing, SCI

Bulletin

Over 500 global brand marketers from more than 50 global brands have participated in the Leading Global Brands project. All participants arethe CEO, Chief Marketing Officer, Global/Regional Brand Director, or local Brand Director of a global brand. They all share a desire to be thoughtleaders in developing ideas and best practices for leading the global brands of the future, the Global Brand Benchmark database now includescontributions from over 5,000 global brand marketers.

EB.Everybody knows about Starbucks' US success, but your expansion overseas is relatively recent. How important isInternational to the Starbucks business?

KK. International is poised to contribute significantly to Starbucks overall growth. Once a U.S. company that operated

internationally, Starbucks is now a truly global company. We are a young global brand that built its success in the U.S.,

and the U.S. market activities, trends, and ideas still play a

dominant role. Having said that, its clear that our future

growth will largely be shaped by our international business.China is set to be our largest market outside the United

States, we just opened Brazil and Egypt, and India and

Russia are next on the horizon, so there are many reasons to

be excited about Starbucks growth internationally.

Karin Koonings, Vice President ofMarketing, Starbucks CoffeeInternational, leads the internationalbrand marketing team and isresponsible for setting the priorities anddeveloping the plans to supportcompany brand strategy and businessobjectives around the world.

Abuzz About Global Growth

The focus of this Leading Global Brands Bulletin is on how

the worlds most popular coffee brand stays connected to local

marketing needs and leverages expertise across the globe in a way

that builds local marketing capability and fuels the organizations

international growth.

Starbucks Coffee Company (NASDAQ: SBUX) was founded in 1971, opening its first location in Seattles Pike

Place Market. Twentyfive years later, in 1996, Starbucks opened its first overseas location in Tokyo, Japan.

Today, with nearly 12,500 stores in 39 countries, Starbucks is quickly becoming one of the most recognized and

respected brands in the world.

Karin Koonings team of marketing and communications professionals create seasonal marketing programs and

promotions, oversees communications, CSR and PR initiatives, and shares best practices from the international

community for the overall benefit of the brand globally. The team acts as global stewards of the brand, working

with the local teams in each of the regions to ensure that all expressions of the brand are consistent with the brand

positioning and promise. Karin started her career in Canada with Starbucks in 1996 as the companys very first field

marketing manager.

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EB:When you started your job, how well connected washe international marketing team to the needs of the local

and regional marketing teams?

KK: I came to this role from a field position in North

America and was used to working quite autonomously

within the boundaries of strategic programs that had been

defined by Seattle. The Support Center understood our

markets and developed programs that we would

mplement with local creativity and surround with local

marketing initiatives. This is why the brand is so well

connected with the communities in which we operate. Our

grassroots marketing has made us successful. When I

oined Starbucks Coffee International, I made it a priority to

build a team that would connect with and provide

ubstantive support to our international markets, while at

he same time affording them the flexibility to engage their

communities in ways that were locally relevant. I think we

have done a terrific job of relating to one another, sharingbest practices, and getting together as often as possible for

oneonone interaction and strategic planning.

We have made a lot of progress toward better understanding and delivering against our markets needs. Were taking

our progress a step further by offering international rotational assignments to our partners, so a partner from Seattle

may go to a regional office or market for a sixmonth assignment or someone from one of our international markets

will come to Seattle. Its like an exchange program that provides the opportunity for the reciprocal sharing of knowledge

and expertise.

EB: How did you go about getting better connected with the local markets and were your initiatives successful?

KK: Starbucks is in the people business serving coffee, which is why we believe in that personal human connection, not

ust in our stores but with one another as fellow partners (employees). When I came to the Support Center, I made it a

priority to connect personally with the regional teams and learn first hand what their challenges and opportunities were.

t involved a lot of travel to all corners of the world and a lot of listening, which I think our markets appreciated.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, we are offering international rotational assignments for our partners in marketing and

communications. We also stay in close contact with our markets even in spite of the many time zones. We have

regular calls, travel as often as is necessary, and host regular marketing and communications immersions in Seattle and

elsewhere. We also rely on our Regional Support Centers to work closely with their markets.

n addition, the commissioning of the EffectiveBrands Global Brand Benchmark has helped our teams become more

outsidein focused. The Benchmark was aimed at almost everyone who works in marketing for Starbucks around the

world. We asked our marketing representatives in each country to rate SCIs performance against key drivers of global

brand effectiveness. The survey results have created a completely new level of transparency and measurable

accountability around the effectiveness of our international marketing support.

The Benchmark findings really helped us to step back and view our work from the perspective of those on the receiving

end. Although most of the findings were very encouraging, with extremely high scores for brand inspiration and growth

potential, there were clearly areas where we

could make changes to help accelerate our

growth. The process of drafting and learningfrom the Benchmark brought the regional and

central support teams closer. It was clear that

countries saw us as one, and that we were going

to divide and conquer to deliver against our

overall business needs and objectives.

EffectiveBrands Global Brand Benchmark

has helped our teams become more

outsidein focused.Karin Koonings, Vice President of Marketing, SCI

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Our marketers everywhere are always looking for ways to

connect to their communities and in ways that make a

difference. I dont think there is another global brand that

uns the breadth and diversity of local marketing programs

hat we do. But all programs deliver against our core values

and business principles, providing the consistency that our

customers have learned to

ecognize and expect.

EB: Many global marketers tell us that they feel somewhat

solated in their companies because they dont have manycolleagues that share their challenge of correctly balancingocal relevance with global leverage. Do you recognize thispredicament?

KK: Absolutely. I felt pretty much the same way for at least

the first year of my job. I dont think there were many

people in the company that fully understood the challenge.

But I have to say that this feeling is far behind me now. Working more closely with colleagues responsible for global

category (food, beverage, and product) management and innovation and, most importantly, my regional

marketing colleagues have helped us all see and share the same goals. Together we have found that leveraging global

programs is precisely what local markets want. It stops them from having to reinvent the wheelwhich is costly and timeconsuming for themand frees them up to focus on the things that help them create local programs that connect with

their customers and communities. A balance of global leverage and local relevance has made everyones life a lot easier,

more productive and, frankly, more fun! I'm proud to work at Starbucks. This is an exciting time to be here and to be in

nternational. Looking aheadsix months, one year, 10 years down the roadthere is so much to be excited about.

EB: Can you explain a bit more about this "dividing andconquering to deliver?

KK: Until recently, every geographic region operated

fairly autonomously. Take an area like marketing

training. Sharing marketing programs and ideas

happened at regional forums where marketers from the

most important countries facilitated the meetings. There

was little or no sharing across regions.

The Benchmark helped us pinpoint the areas of

marketing skills and development needed by all

marketers across Starbucks Coffee International.

Together with the regional marketing teams, we

developed ONE international training agenda. The team in Seattle is spearheading the development of the marketing

raining programs and the regional teams are charged with rollout and implementation support. This has been a

remendously efficient and effective approach that has allowed us to put in place dedicated marketing capability

development resources for the first time. The new Starbucks Learning Series is being received with enthusiasm across

he globe!

B: Starbucks seems to have been very successful at maintaining and globally leveraging brand consistency. At the sameime you mentioned the importance of grass roots programs to build local relevancy. Arent these twoontradictory goals?

KK: Our brand promise of providing the highest quality coffee, exceptional customer service, and a truly uplifting

tarbucks Experience is the same around the world. We continue to spend a lot of time sharing on Brand Stewardship

programs that explain to our partners worldwide what the company and brand stand for and challenging them to bring

hat to life in their respective markets. The way our stores and our store partners (baristas) connect with their customers

nd the communities in which we operate is what makes Starbucks unique and locally relevant.

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Global Marketing Capability Program

About

EffectiveBrands is the only global marketing consultancy thatfocuses specifically on the opportunities and challenges of globalbrand marketers. EffectiveBrands helps marketing leaders build

global marketing capability and accelerate growth by drivingboth global leverage and local relevance.

Our expertise is based on our practical work experience withmany of the world's leading global brands as well as ourproprietary Leading Global Brands project.

AMSTERDAM

Silodam 2311013 AS AmsterdamThe NetherlandsT: +31 20 330 2636

NEW YORK

648 Br oadway, Suite 502New York. NY 10012USAT: +1 212 358 9638

LONDON

3 Plough YardLondon EC2A 3LPUnited KingdomT: +44 20 7456 9620

SINGAPORE

17A Duxton RoadSingapore 089483

T: +65 6221 3693

www.effectivebrands.com

[email protected]

2007 EffectiveBr ands

Over the last 5 years, EffectiveBrands has developed the Global Marketing Capability Program.In this discussion, as head of the Starbucks Coffee International Marketing team, Karinsexperiences and work emphasizes the importance of some of these phases:

Connect - creating interdependencyKarin worked hard to understand what the markets wanted and needed, doing "a lotof listening" when she first assumed the role. Her first challenge was to ensure that theinternational and regional marketing teams shared common goals and were committed tosharing responsibility to drive the same objectives. Today they have clear alignment on roles and

responsibilities in order to achieve these objectives. The markets expect the International team todeliver high quality global programs which are continuously and consistently leveraged. In

exchange, local markets are better positioned to focus on initiatives that connect Starbucks to theirimmediate communities with locally relevant programs and promotions that have been a key success

factor for Starbucks from the start.

Inspire - harnessing brand passionSince its inception, the Starbucks brand has communicated the passion for coffee and community held by everyone in theorganization. From Howard Schultz to the barista in a coastal Maine town who breaks out into song when calling out ready orders forcustomers, Starbucks harnesses its brand passion through stories that illustrate the unwavering personality and values of the brand.Ultimately, brand passion translates into winning market programs that drive loyalty and growth for the company as a whole.

Build - harvesting and leveraging capabilities and best practicesThe results of the Global Brand Benchmark reinforced a strong desire for learning and leveraging across regions, especially from marketsthat were at similar stages of development. Building on regional forums already in place to share best practices within regions, Starbucksbegan thinking more globally about how to build its marketing capability and create consistency and excellence around the world. TheGlobal Brand Benchmark also revealed that marketing skills development was a focus area requested by marketers from all regions, andprovided the impetus and vital input into the creation of a new Starbucks marketing university called the Starbucks Learning Series. Finally,the global team is leading another initiative to offer international rotations assignments in order to enable markets to share learning andexpertise around the world.

NEW YORK

648 Broadway, Suite 502

New York. NY 10012

USA

T: +1 212 358 9638

LONDON

3 Plough Yard

London EC2A 3LP

United Kingdom

T: +44 20 7456 9620

AMSTERDAM

Silodam 231

1013 AS Amsterdam

The Netherlands

T: +31 20 330 2636

SINGAPORE

17A Duxton Road

Singapore 089483

T: +65 6221 3693

www.effectivebrands.com

[email protected]

2008 EffectiveBrands

Bulletin Starbucks

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