Employees
Starbucks calls their employees “partners”. They
have what is called “Your Special Blend”, which outlines what partners at the
company will receive. Partners are eligible to receive health benefits,
retirement benefits and paid time off even as part-time employees.
The company offers perks with products and
beverages including free products and 30 % store made drinks. They also offer
education perks, including tuition assistance. All of these perks help to draw
employees into the company and help to retain them as well.
Starbucks also has an online community for
partners, thepartnercafe.com, where employees can sign in and look for career
advancement opportunities within the company.
Investors
A great deal of investor relations involves good
marketing, so all types of communications specialists need to work together to
get investors interested in a company. There needs to be IR, corporate and
marketing communicators working together to get the right message to investors.
Starbucks has an entire section of their website
dedicated to their Investor Relations. They are a publically traded company and
their NASDAQ (logo) is SBUX. On their investor relations’ page, there is
information about their annual reports, their filings, their stock prices and
their stock history.
Starbucks also has investor conferences and
quarterly earnings conferences each year to keep people up to date on the
company and its financial situation. There is even an investment calculator,
where you can enter the amount of money or shares you invested on a certain
date and see how much your initial investment is worth today.
Starbucks follows some specific communications
factors related to IR, including articulating the company vision, ensuring the
stock price expectations are appropriate and trying to reduce stock prices
volatility (Argenti and Barnes, 150).
Government
Starbucks is not deeply involved in politics, however Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz publicly endorsed President Obama in this
past presidential race, and the company publicly supports same-sex marriage
as well. Schultz also said he would like to boycott corporate political
donations because the money needs to be used to create jobs, not support
campaigns.
Schultz believes in putting aside bi-parisanship and focusing on real solutions for our country:
"Let’s tell our government leaders to put partisanship aside and to speak truthfully about the challenges we face. Let’s ask our business leaders to create more job opportunities for the American economy. And as citizens, let’s all get more involved. Please, don’t be a bystander. Understand that we have a shared responsibility in solving our nation’s problems. We can’t wait for Washington. At Starbucks, we are trying to live up to our responsibility by increasing our local community service and helping to finance small-business job creation with Create Jobs for USA. Our company is far from perfect, and we know we can do more for America. But we need your help. We need your voice" (Schultz, Starbucks.com).
Demonstration of Corporate Social Responsibility
Starbucks is a company very focused on community
and corporate social responsibility. They have built the company around the
idea of giving back and ethical practices. All of their coffee beans are
ethically sourced from select countries. They have an entire part of their
website dedicated to volunteer opportunities. Starbucks aims to strike a
balance between profit and social conscience.
Starbucks also launched the Create Jobs for USA
campaign, which is an initiative to help create jobs for Americans through
donations. This campaign helps to boost our economy by creating and keeping
jobs in the USA.
“From the neighborhoods where our stores are
located, to the ones where our coffee is grown – we are committed to helping
communities thrive where we do business.”
A concern about corporate social responsibility is that it may not
always be authentic. Starbucks has been involved in social responsibility for
as long as the company has been around, so that helps the authenticity of their
work.
While social responsibility can help increase profit, it doesn’t
always. Starbucks has lost profits due to over-expansion, but continues to put
money into fair trade coffee and part time employee insurance. “Chairman and
CEO Howard Schultz is committed to making Starbucks a company that puts “people
first and profits last””. (Argenti and Barnes, 175).
Use of a Spokesperson
Starbucks does not have a specific spokesperson.
As a company, Starbucks does not do a great deal of advertising because they
rely a lot on word of mouth and social media. They very rarely have done
television ads. Their CEO, Howard Schultz, is the closest they have to a
spokesperson. He writes blogs on the website and appears in the media. He is
the most well-known person associated with Starbucks.
While there is no official spokesperson,
celebrities are photographed all the time with Starbucks cups in their hands,
which is free advertising for the company. “Studies have also shown that when
celebrities appear in advertisements or endorse products, not only do we
perceive the brand message as more authentic, but it also enhances our
recognition and recall of the product in question” (Lindstrom, 160).
Having celebrities visit Starbucks and be
photographed with the product is a great, free advertisement for Starbucks and
people are more likely to think of the product and buy it themselves.
Use of Communication Strategies and Crisis Communication Strategies
I think Starbucks uses their communication strategies
well. They are a top company that offers their employees great benefits that a
lot of other companies do not. They are publically traded and make their
investor information available. The CEO makes his political thoughts known, but
not in a way that alienates their customers, and they are a socially
responsible company that focuses highly on how to give back to communities
where they do business.
Starbucks could be more involved in the media in
terms of advertising and having a specific spokesperson, but since they are
profiting without having to pay millions for advertising, they can use that
money for their CSR efforts instead.
Their PR department seems to keep them involved
in media with a great deal of online social presence as well as making the public aware of new
products and campaigns as well.
In a crisis, I think Starbucks would need to
mostly maintain the course they are on. Since they are so involved in social
media, their messaging would need to be spread across all their networks as
well as through traditional media. Since Howard Schultz is the face of
Starbucks, he would need to be seen and heard from in a crisis, making sure his
messaging is transparent and honest.
During a crisis, a company needs to have cohesive
messaging. Anyone acting as a spokesperson in regards to the crisis needs to
know what the company wants to say and how to say it. The messages the company
puts out on their website, on TV and throughout the media needs to have the
same main ideas so the public can follow along. The messaging needs to be
transparent and honest so the company can rebuild their image and retain their
customers and shareholders, even during a crisis.
Works Cited
1. Argenti, Paul A. Digital Strategies for Powerful Corporate Communications. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print.
2. Lindström,
Martin. Brandwashed. North Sydney, N.S.W.: Random House Australia, 2011.
Print.
