Starbucks launches first global brand campaign
Starbucks is launching its first global brand campaign to highlight the good things that happen when coffee lovers unplug from their smartphones and laptops and use their time in-store to connect with friends, a move it hopes will help boost dwell time worldwide.
Video: ”Meet me at Starbucks” 60-second ad
The “Meet me at Starbucks” drive is the first time the coffee business has attempted to convey the values of the brand on this scale. It plays on the idea that while many of its customers are digital-savvy, sometimes the best way for them to connect to one another is face-to-face with Starbucks stores suggested as the perfect location.
An interactive YouTube mini-documentary, shot in in 59 different stores across 28 countries during the same 24-hour period, documents a day in the life at a Starbucks. Vignettes range from showing how a scrapbook group regularly meeting at a Starbucks in America helped a mother overcome the lose of her daughter to how a band in Japan held an audition for their newest member at a local store. Fans are able to deviate from the main document and hear more about each story by clicking on the videos at certain points.
The 72andSunny-created campaign was filmed in cities such as New York, Rio de Janeiro, Bogota, Singapore, Beijing, Mumbai, Toronto, Paris and Berlin. Some 39 local film-makers and 10 photographers were used to capture more than 220 hours of footage in the hope of capturing what Starbucks claims are “authentic, unscripted, moments of connection”.
Starbucks will also ask fans to post photos illustrating how people met, encouraging participants to use the Instagram hashtag #HowWeMet. Additional content will appear across other social media channels including Twitter and Tumblr in the coming months, although plans have not been finalised, the retailer said.
The move builds on the coffee maker’s recent ads that pushed the strapline “Sometimes the best way to connect is to get together”. The campaign launched in the US earlier this month with four short films titled “Date,” “Apology,” “Parisian Love” and “Kick”.
Starbucks has prioritised increasing dwell time at its stores as it looks to maintain sales momentum. By showcasing the different occasions people can visit its stores – whether it for after an work drink or for food – in its global charge, the business plans to fuel its early forays into selling alcohol in the evening, snacks and in-store customer service.
Efforts to date have seen the business acquire an American baker as well as luxury tea maker Teavana. In the UK, Starbucks is partnering healthy fast food brand Pod to sell products such as shredded pork wraps and barbecue chicken dishes in order to encourage consumers to visit its stores for more than their morning coffee.