social media • direct marketing • public relations sincerely B u s i n e s s F i n a n c e

Step 1: Read the attached memo

Last year, you were kind enough to offer your strategic marketing MBA students the opportunity to provide us with some recommendations for an Integrated Marketing Communications plan to spread the word about Starbucks Evenings. As much as we appreciated all the fine work and effort, unfortunately this initiative did not provide us with the growth we anticipated. You may have heard that we have decided to stop selling beer and wine at Starbucks after 6pm. However, we never stop innovating as we are embarking on a new initiative. The idea is to bring to market Roastery and Reserve stores. These will be much more of an experience than your typical Starbucks store. They’re not just a quick stop you make on your way into the office; they’re not just a drive-thru spot you roll through when your kid falls asleep in the car seat. In theory, they’re a destination, and that’s a distinction I feel is critical in a country that where there are just too many stores. Our challenge now is to build a marketing strategy to stimulate this new business. Can you please help? We would appreciate some ideas from your class to help us integrate the following aspects of our Marketing Communications: • Advertising • Sales Promotion • Online/Social Media • Direct Marketing • Public Relations Sincerely, Howard Shultz (CEO, Starbucks) P.S. Here are some fun facts about this initiative and some planned rollout in major metro areas: This represents a somewhat different approach to food than typical Starbucks locations. They will bake fresh pastries and breads on site. Stores will have dedicated staffers who just focus on those dishes, meaning the familiar baristas will work alongside a team of food preparers. Starbucks’ Reserve stores will be about 3,000 to 5,000 square feet, landing between the size of its traditional core stores and the Roasteries. Such stores will feature the Reserve bar and beans, as well as food from high-end Italian bakery firm Princi, which Starbucks invested in earlier this year. The first Reserve stores will open in Seattle and Chicago in the second half of next year. The New York location Roastery, for example, will feature a 45-foot bar where customers can have cocktails, beer and wine, a bid to make these restaurants into evening hangout spots, not just gathering places for morning or afternoon pick-me-ups. Over the next five years, we plan to add “Reserve Bars” to 20 percent of our regular restaurants, injecting those locations with some of the fanciness associated with the Reserve brand. We expect that this initiative will deliver 10 percent growth in revenue and a 15 to 20 percent increase in earnings per share. Comparable sales, a measure of sales at restaurants open more than a year, are projected to rise “mid-single digits.”

Step 2: Answer the following questions:

1. Provide some ideas to help Starbucks integrate different aspects of their marketing communication effort to promote the Roastery and Reserve stores initiative.
2. Comment on at least two other people’s answers.