Starbucks Evenings – A Brand New Customer Experience Concept
As a card carrying Gold Rewards member at Starbucks, I get insights on upcoming events and product launches the company is rolling out.
One such email included an invitation to the launch party of Starbucks’ new concept – Evenings – that offers customers beer, wine and small plates at select stores.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the evolving corporate vision of Starbucks. Starbucks’ new Evenings concept is an interesting result of this evolution.
With a mission to “inspire and nurture the human spirit,” Starbucks is giving consumers a place to enjoy their evenings.
You might think of Starbucks as the place where you enjoy your morning ritual, grabbing a coffee on your way into work. Or, you might associate Starbucks with meeting colleagues, small gatherings with friends, or with brief, quiet moments with The New York Times on Sundays.
But, you might also use Starbucks as that nebulous, neutral zone, where you meet friends before grabbing a bite to eat. It’s likely that afternoon respite from running errands. Basically, it’s an in-between place. A third place where you feel comfortable that isn’t home or work.
With Starbucks Evenings, you have a new place to grab after work or pre-show drinks and nibbles. Instead of being a stop-off on your way to another destination, Starbucks is the destination.
This is an interesting evolution of the customer experience and the third place environment that Starbucks works so diligently to create for its customers.
Their website says it well:
“The place you love during the day now has more reasons to love it at night. We’ve always been your neighborhood spot where you can take a moment to unwind, grab a well-deserved treat, and meet up with friends. But sometimes, you just want a glass of wine and a delicious bite to eat without going to a bar or making a restaurant reservation.”
Starbucks Evenings is a great example of a new service that fits perfectly within their business model. It’s something that their customers want; it adds value to the customer experience. Kudos, Starbucks.
Chicago Ideas Week - Storyboarding
Yesterday, I attended a Chicago Ideas Week lab at Gravity Tank, an innovation consultancy.
We learned about story-boarding and how it helps us to understand consumer experiences and pain points.
These insightful scenarios highlight potential opportunities where innovation and new thinking can be applied.
Starbucks Realigns Their Corporate Vision, For The Better
Creating a Third Place
During college, I worked as a Shift Supervisor and Coffee Master at Starbucks. For the years I toiled behind the Verismo espresso bar, Starbucks had a very clear mission statement:
“Establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow.”
As a Starbucks Partner (all Starbucks employees are referred to as partners, regardless of their official titles), we were encouraged to enhance the customer experience and create a third place for our guests – a welcoming environment that was neither work nor home.
Commoditization of the Customer Experience – Starbucks Loses Focus
Experiencing cultural and economic shifts, an increasingly saturated marketplace, and stockholder pressure, Starbucks began to move away from its core.
Instead of focusing on offering handcrafted, quality coffee drinks and rich customer experiences, Starbucks moved to integrate new products, trying to appeal to a broader market and compete with the likes of Dunkin Donuts.
They began to produce and sell movies, stock books and CDs in their stores, and removed brew-at-home coffee machines from their shelves.
There was no longer time or budget for coffee seminars – where Coffee Masters, like myself, would create unique educational experiences for our customers.
In fact, I once worked with another Coffee Master to host an event at our neighborhood store where we personally cooked 8 various appetizers and deserts, which each paired with a Starbucks coffee. We called it “Entertaining with Coffee”. Over 20 customers attended. It was amazing.
All manual espresso machines were replaced with push-button versions, offering less customization for customers and requiring less knowledge and skill from baristas.
Starbucks stores became the same. The opened new stores rapidly, with little thought on creating distinct customer experiences. New store design went down the path of most large chains, with every new store looking just the same as the last.
It seemed, just like coffee itself, the Starbucks experience had become a commodity. It was interchangeable with its competitors, like Caribou Coffee.
The result? Starbucks lost its luster. The third place experience, gone. The specialty, once differentiated drinks could be found anywhere coffee was sold, from McDonald’s to gas stations. Store environments became boring and unwelcoming. They even charged for WIFI.
Return of the Third Place
So, after a brief hiatus, former Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz – the man who worked so hard to differentiate the Starbucks third place experience, and company culture – returned to the helm.
The books and movies left the shelves. Drink quality improved. Once more, store design became creative and welcoming.
To celebrate the company’s 40th anniversary, Starbucks refreshed its brand identity, placing more focus on the iconic Siren.
Recently, it seems, Starbucks has also realigned its corporate vision, mission and culture.
Their new mission?
“To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.”
It seems that Starbucks has finally realized that they are not in the coffee business, but that they are in the customer experience business.
In a follow-up post, I will tell you about my recent customer experience during the launch of Starbucks Evenings, a new store concept that offers food and alcoholic drinks after 4pm.
Nostalgia's Role in Storytelling - Iconic Brands Get It
Great article on Ad Age - General Mills Brings Back Green Giant, Cheerios Kid In Nostalgic Appeal
Obviously, digital media is allowing us to tell stories in a whole new way - not only personal stories, but brand stories. And, iconic brands know they have a history with consumers.
I think it's really smart how these companies are leveraging nostalgia in telling the brand story - and in telling new stories, such as in the Cheerios example.
These brands are highly commoditized - which green beans do you buy? Likely the cheapest.
But maybe not if you have nostalgic memories of your mother making dinner (using Jolly Green Giant green beans).
Maybe you have an emotional connection with the character and associate those beans with family dinners.
This type of storytelling can be very powerful, especially when you've been hearing the story since you were a child.
It's interesting how, sometimes, being innovative means looking to the past.
hey job seekers - brand yourself!
Today's college grads and young professionals have many challenges to face when starting their careers.
More than ever, it's important to have an online presence - if you're not visible, you're not found.
Of all available jobs, 80% are never advertised (Wall Street Journal), and more than 71% of HR managers today browse social networks looking for job candidates.
To add to the issue, 35% of employers report that they have found content on social networking sites that caused them NOT to hire a candidate (careerbuilder).
I cannot stress the importance of "attraction marketing" for today's job seekers. Standing out as a personal brand means that you're no longer an anonymous cog in the wheel of a faceless corporation.
Career savvy individuals develop their online brands with what I like to call "personal visibility campaigns". Think of these as integrated marketing campaigns for individual people.
What does a personal visibility campaign include? That's a good question. Here are my initial thoughts.
Online identity management (consistent branding across all social networks, including a personal website or blog)
Resume SEO enhancing
Personal website/blog development
What else? Leave me a comment with your thoughts.