Analysis of Starbucks Brand Management: A Case Study

This case study provides a comprehensive analysis of Starbucks' brand management, examining its objectives, strategies, and competitive tactics. It delves into Starbucks' brand identity, communication strategies, and the allocation of advertising costs. The study also explores the application of Porter's Five Forces to assess future challenges and the constant need for innovation. Furthermore, it discusses the importance of ethical sourcing, consumer engagement through emotional appeal in marketing, and maintaining brand value through quality products and services. The analysis covers various aspects of the company's marketing campaigns, including the use of different media and the overall budget allocation. The study concludes with key takeaways regarding Starbucks' brand strategy and its adaptation to the changing market dynamics.

Running head: BRAND MANAGEMENT
Brand Management (Case Study of Starbucks)
Name of the University:
Name of the Student:
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Brand Objectives........................................................................................................................2
Brand Strategy........................................................................................................................3
Brand Identity.............................................................................................................................3
Brand Communication...........................................................................................................4
Competitive strategies................................................................................................................5
Future challenges...................................................................................................................5
Constant need for innovation.................................................................................................6
Advertising cost.........................................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Brand management refers to the planning and analysis on how a brand is being
perceived in the market. It is immensely essential to develop a strong relationship with the
target consumers for managing a brand. The tangible elements for brand management
comprise the product itself, outlook of the product, pricing, packaging and more. The
intangible elements are the consumer experiences and their relationship with the brand
(Heding, Knudtzen and Bjerre 2015). The key objective of this research paper is to develop a
brand strategy for Starbucks, which was founded in the year 1971. The research paper will
discuss about the brand objectives, strategies, competitive strategies and advertising costs,
which will give an overview of their marketing campaigns. In addition to this, the research
paper will analyze the Porter’s Five Forces in a brief manner, in order to gain an
understanding regarding the future challenges of the brand. The global expansion of the brand
has been strategic as well as rapid. Starbucks has been striving to build its brand image and
identity, since its inception, by offering its customers with an enjoyable or relaxing
experience.
Brand Objectives
The main objectives of Starbucks will be;
 To maintain the brand image or reputation.
 To achieve consumers’ respect and be one of the leading brands of the world.
 To be recognized by utilizing environment stewardship and ethnical sourcing.
 To become the leading brand or retailer of coffee by selling finest quality coffee or
related products to its target consumers.

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Starbucks need to use ethnical sourcing in order to appeal to the consumers, to buy
purchase their products. The company is also environmentally aware as it is one of the major
issues, which impacts the world. However, they should advertise or promote their ethical
usage of the products in order to cater to the most number of the consumers. In addition to
this, their strategies must include expansion of the global retail business for increasing the
market share in more disciplined manner (Tsimonis and Dimitriadis 2014). Their main aim
should be serving superior quality of products to its consumers, along with well maintained
stores and staff members. These tactics would help them in creating innovative as well as
new products in order to generate a loyal consumer supporting the marketing strategies.
Brand Strategy
Branding is one of the core elements of the company’s strategy, over the past years.
The company has managed to invest a lot in the creation of a standardized feel as well as look
of its food, drinks, stores and merchandises. However, Starbucks need to do a little more in
order to motivate or encourage the customers. The marketers of Starbucks need to use the
motivation-need theory in a very effective manner by creating an artificial demand for the
consumers. The target consumers must be encouraged to prioritize their purchases towards
the hierarchy base, as it is vital for Starbucks to instill the sense of urgency or need among
them. Moreover, the psychoanalytic theory suggests that the marketing messages which
consist of an emotional appeal to the feelings, aspirations, fears or hopes of the consumers,
are often more efficient as well as effective than the rational appeals (Solomon et al. 2014).
Therefore, Starbucks should concentrate more on the emotional appeal of the consumers and
design their marketing strategies in accordance with that.

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Brand Identity
To cope with the complexities and pressures of branding, brand managers have
adopted ideas to identify their brands. The brand identity of Starbucks lies in its logo, which
means good quality coffee and food products. The imagery has always grabbed the attention
of millions of its target consumers (Starbucks.in 2018). However, it is immensely important
to remember that the brand value is being built by constantly delivering quality products and
services. Without quality products, a simple logo can be a poor branding strategy. Therefore,
it is important for the company to keep its quality intact. In addition to this, customers love
surprises and hence, delighting the consumers with unexpected surprises can also help in
maintaining their standards. Good brands need to recognize their brand essence and also
address those, head on. Many years ago, the company began losing its ground to new
entrants. For future innovation, the company needs to speak volumes regarding their
connection with their customers, leadership, culture and consumer experiences. Strong brands
pay attention to the valuable feedbacks of their consumers as well as employees (Wheeler
2017). Starbucks should ensure that their employees are empowered enough to deliver what
the brand promises.
Brand Communication
Companies all over the world are increasingly observing the benefit of a corporate
branding strategy. Starbucks is obviously not a stranger to the marketing or brand campaigns
as it has spent huge amounts in several advertising campaigns. However, the key thing to
keep under consideration is that the marketing campaigns focuses on their consumers’
experiences as this directly link to the core philosophy and values. The brand promotion
strategies need to be unconventional as well as unique and do not follow the tested models of
advertising. Starbucks should rely heavily on newspaper, poster, magazine and billboard
advertising (Paschen et al. 2017). The marketing campaigns of the company should focus on

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its product variants and offerings, highlighting the free goodies and more. Starbucks need to
develop or build its brand image by communicating directly with the consumers, through
marketing or advertising campaigns (Lee and Lee 2016). This particular principle of building
the brand will help in reflecting the brand’s promotion or communication strategies in an
efficient, yet effective strategy.
Competitive strategies
Starbucks will maintain its competitive advantage in the market by generating new
ideas. They will get hold of the customers and make them comfortable by implementing new
strategies. They will simply spread in the market by establishing one of their stores in such a
way that it does not lose the profit of another store. They will use the strategy of setting up
their stores in various areas based on the demography, location of the rival companies and the
pattern of traffic. Moreover, employees will be considered as elements of brand to influence
brand equity (Panwar et al. 2015).
The four dominant criteria that Starbucks will use for gaining competitive advantage
include offering an effective position nearer to home and work. They will sell coffee of the
most premium quality and spread around the international market by focusing on their
upcoming economies. They will combine technology with their business processes in order to
modify their functioning. They will create a friendly environment within their stores so that
the customers can spend their leisure time (Utami 2017).
Future challenges
Starbucks might face the challenge of decrease in the number of customers in the
upcoming days so they will have to look for new strategies to convince them for visit. The
decrease in the number of customers will pose a negative impact on their sales figure. They
will have a tough time in sorting out for methods that will increase in the number of

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customers. According to Porter’s Five Forces, Starbucks might be affected from the factors
of:
 Strong competition- Starbucks will face strong competition due to lot of firms in
variety and low switching cost
 Strong bargaining power of customers due to the strong force of substitute availability
and weak force of small size of individual customers
 Weak bargaining power of suppliers due to weak variety of suppliers, weak overall
supply and moderate individual suppliers
 Strong threat of substitutes due to large availability and low cost of substitutes
 Moderate threat of new entry due to moderate cost of business and supply chain and
weak force of high cost in brand development
This analysis has effectively portrayed that the threat of new entrants might not be of
prime importance in the Starbucks’ strategies (E. Dobbs 2014).
Constant need for innovation
The company should have a strong innovation strategy in order to make an impact in
the competitive market. In the case of Starbucks, innovation will be incorporated in the form
of improving the products and services to satisfy the customers. This type of innovation will
be basic for the establishment of a superior brand in the local and international market. If
Starbucks relate their brand strategies with innovation, they will be able to gain a long- term
competitive advantage and cope up with unpredictable recession (Bain and Kleinknecht
2016).
In the coffee drinking industry, there is a high scope of imitating the innovation
concepts by offering variety of espressos and flavors. Therefore, Starbucks will need to
modify their innovation strategies by improvising on the internal functions such as

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communication network, organizational culture, cost- cutting and improving efficiency rather
than only developing new products. New form of innovation will permit the company to
explain its brand philosophy by aligning with the constant changing demands of the
customers. Innovation will be beneficial for customers to attract the customers away from the
competitors (Boucher 2015).
Advertising cost
Media
Option
Attribute Justificatio
n of media
Creative
and
Productio
n services
Justificatio
n for
creative
and
production
Time Estimated
Cost
Newspape
r
Medium
coverage
Limited to
the number
of readers
Artists,
designers,
creative
writers
Professional
and creative
work
One
month
or less
$500- $2000
approximatel
y
Television Reach out
to a large
number
of people
To reach out
among a
wide range
of people
Copywriter
,
performers,
director,
camera
persons etc.
Professional
as well as
creative
Two-
three
month
s
$4000
approximatel
y
Posters Target
the
audience
Simple in
nature,
picture and
Artists,
designers
etc.
Creativity Less
than a
week
$3000
approximatel
y

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based on
its
placemen
t
slogan only
Social
Media and
Websites
Can reach
a wide
number
of
internet
users
Interactive
and easily
available
Graphic
Designer,
Illustrator,
Artists etc.
Professional
and creative
Less
than a
month
$100- $2000
approximatel
y
Source: As created by the author
2.3. Overall requirements
An estimated budget of $70,000 had been allocated for the entire requirements and therefore
the approximate budget is prepared accordingly.
Research $10,000 approx
Media $10,000 approx
Creative Production Fees $20,000 approx
Advertising service fees $10,000 approx
Contingencies $20,000 approx
Total Expenditure $70,000 approx
Figure: Estimated Budget

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Source: As created by the author
Conclusion
It can be concluded from the proposal that Starbucks will have to generate a brand
strategy for them. It was discussed throughout the paper about the brand objectives,
competitive strategies, brand identity and advertising costs, which has paved the way for their
introductory campaign. The use of Porter’s Five Forces Analysis made it easy for defining
the threats that might affect the company in the future days. Moreover, motivation- need
theory and psychoanalytic theory has provided effective logical appeals to convince the
customers in visiting their stores. The branding concepts have been widely discussed to throw
light on the ways of managing the challenges that might emerge in the future days.

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References
Bain, D. and Kleinknecht, A. eds., 2016. New concepts in innovation output measurement.
Springer.
Boucher, F., 2015. From need to innovation [industrial activities]. IEEE Robotics &
Automation Magazine, 22(3), pp.18-19.
E. Dobbs, M., 2014. Guidelines for applying Porter's five forces framework: a set of industry
analysis templates. Competitiveness Review, 24(1), pp.32-45.
Heding, T., Knudtzen, C.F. and Bjerre, M., 2015. Brand management: Research, theory and
practice. Routledge.
Lee, Y.S. and Lee, J., 2016. Assessing Brand Communication Strategies on Social
Media. Asian Communication Research, 13(1), pp.80-106.
Panwar, R., Nybakk, E., Pinkse, J. and Hansen, E., 2015, July. Competitive Strategies and
Small Firms’ Social Responsibilities. In Proceedings of the International Association for
Business and Society (Vol. 26, pp. 99-111).
Paschen, J., Pitt, L., Kietzmann, J., Dabirian, A. and Farshid, M., 2017. The brand
personalities of brand communities: an analysis of online communication. Online Information
Review, 41(7), pp.1064-1075.
Solomon, M.R., Dahl, D.W., White, K., Zaichkowsky, J.L. and Polegato, R., 2014. Consumer
behavior: Buying, having, and being (Vol. 10). Pearson.
Starbucks.in (2018). [online] Available at: http://www.starbucks.in/ [Accessed 3 May 2018].