Starbucks "Third Place" Campaign

Entry into a foreign Market

For this project, I focused on creating a campaign from an existing brand to successfully launch it into a new market. While Starbucks is undoubtedly a household name, this exercise tested my ability to find balance between brand constraints and creative innovation. It also was a lesson in learning to format for different platforms, and creating a campaign with flexible enough elements to work within that.

There are very few definitive things you can say about Starbucks. Every Starbucks is basically identical to every other Starbucks, and yet no two Starbucks are alike. Starbucks is supposed to feel like an organic part of thousands of different NEIGHBOURHOODS, but it is also supposed to feel exactly like a Starbucks 

Starbucks mission statement is “To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time”. Their philosophy is that it takes many hands to craft the perfect cup of coffee. The company emphasizes the highest standards of quality and care in all aspects of their product. This encompasses every step of the process from the coffee bean farmers, the roasters and the baristas. While Starbucks respects the heritage and traditions of artisan coffee of European origins, they also emphasize crafting an innovative and original experience for their customers.

A major aspect of the Starbucks brand is the narrative of its versatility. They have conceptualized what they consider to be a “third place”. This “third place” is a spot between home and work that is comfortable and welcoming enough for their target market to want to frequent almost daily. By creating this overall comforting and welcoming impression through both brand language and physical presence, Starbucks has created a versatile business model that is easily incorporated into their customers’ variable daily lives, whether that be a quick stop for coffee or an afternoon stay in one of their cafes to work. 

The strategic direction of this campaign was to aid middle to upper-class adults in seeing how they can fit Starbucks into their unique life. By fully researching and understanding the companies goals, I was able to learn of the "third place" theory, and incorporate it into the campaign for advertising that feels true to the company's values and goals. For some, Starbucks is the quick stop on their daily commute. While for others its the productive meeting place or the buzzing place to work on creative concepts. My Third Place campaign emphasizes to consumers the many ways Starbucks can fit into their daily lives.