• People in creative industries love spaces like Starbucks, where they can have a coffee while doing their tasks like sketching, studying, drawing, etc.

• Starbucks often emphasises being a comfortable place for people to hang out and socialise.

1. SWOT analysis of Starbucks (Highlands + the Coffee House)

2. Social media audits of Starbucks (on Facebook + TikTok + Instagram)

3. Social media audits of the competitors (on Facebook + TikTok + Instagram)

4. Combine the results and make graphs/ charts/ etc. from the gathered data.

5. Finalise the survey results -> navigate the strategy directions.

• Has a strong brand value and loyalty as Starbucks is a world-famous coffee brand.

• Pursues constant product innovation → offers a wide selection of high-quality products.

• Typically opened in busy places (shopping centres, airports, high-end office buildings, etc.)

• Provides an excellent consumer experience through high-quality service.

Weaknesses:

• Starbucks’ prices are higher than many competitors.

• Increasing number of stores → more difficult to manage effectively.

• It can be easily imitated by competitors, and other coffee shops could offer similar drinks at a cheaper price range.

Opportunities:

• It can continue to improve its social responsibility image by focusing on reducing its environmental footprint and promoting recycling.

• The coffee culture is growing daily, allowing Starbucks to attract more new customers.

Threats:

• Competitive rivalry is very high due to the number of brands entering the expanding market.

• Lack of local adaptation could make the brand feel less special or authentic.

-> Starbucks can leverage its loyal customer base to attract creative students, but the price range of the brand is still higher than its competitors. The campaign can help address this by offering student discounts (specifically for creative students) and collaborating with young local artists in packaging design to strengthen its link to creativity and self-expression.

SOCIAL MEDIA AUDITS: get insight into the comment sentiment of Starbucks' posts using Talkwalker that Ross introduced earlier.

(I'm still figuring out how to use Talkwalker to get insight into the customers/ followers' sentiment).

Its stores are designed to be spacious and suitable for studying/ working/ socialising sessions with friends/ coworkers (this is also what we're trying to build our campaign on). Above all, the price range of TCH, even though it is still considered a little bit more expensive than other independent cafes, is still cheaper than Starbucks -> making the price range a big barrier stopping Starbucks from beating TCH :)

-> The campaign's strategies should be able to address this by offering appealing discount programs/ product lines, and the meaning behind the new launch of those products (must align with the target audience's insight/ give a solution to the customers' pain points).

• Increase the number of Starbucks transactions made using student IDs, student discounts, or during “discount hours” by at least 5,000 within the 1-week campaign period (April 15–21) to encourage frequent visits among university students.

• Attract a minimum of 1,000 new student customers (first-time visitors) to make a purchase at Starbucks through promotional incentives and creative engagement activities.

• Generate at least 2,000 pieces of user-generated content (TikTok videos, Instagram posts/stories, photos) using the campaign hashtag #starmade during the campaign to enhance online engagement and visibility among students.

• Reinforce Starbucks’ identity as “the third place” (a welcoming space for studying, working, and connecting) by highlighting creative collaborations and in-store experiences throughout the campaign week.

• Change the perception of Starbucks among students from being “too expensive” to “a little more affordable and worth it” by introducing exclusive discounts for creative students and creative value-based offerings during the campaign period.

• Increase Starbucks' social media following (combined Facebook, Instagram and TikTok) by at least 20% during the campaign period.

Core message

Starmade celebrates the creativity within every student, blending Starbucks coffee moments with sparks of inspiration.

Supporting message

• "Design by students, made for students".

• "Creativity starts with coffee".

• (I can't think of anything else tbh).

Call-to-action

• Either "Start something Starmade" or "Make it Starmade" (okay i don't have anything else).

• Hashtag #starmadeit

1. Increase student first-timer customers to 50%, measured by the transactions made using student IDs within the 1-week launch.

2. Generate at least 2,000 pieces of UGC (TikTok videos, Instagram stories, posts) using the campaign templates or hashtags #starmade and increase Starbucks' social media following by at least 20% during the campaign period.

-> Combined goal: The campaign aims to shift students’ perception of Starbucks from “too expensive” to “affordable and creative-friendly” by introducing exclusive student discounts, increasing first-time student purchases by 50%, generating 2,000 pieces of UGC, and boosting social media followers by 20% during the launch.

Instagram: Highlands (38K) and The Coffee House (33K), and Starbucks (117K), but are not so active on this platform.

• Best-performing post on SB's Instagram account is one introducing a new merchandise line. Overall, those posts which launched merchandise lines got the most interaction from followers.

TikTok: The Coffee House (19.2K) < Starbucks (92K) < Highlands (143K)

• Highlands' best-performing post has 51.8m views, promoting its discount program on a specific drink.

• The Coffee House's most liked post got 63.1k views and 45 likes, about a participant dressed up as Doraemon promoting the brand's new drinks.

• Starbucks' TikTok most-viewed video got 43k views about the launch of a merchandise line.

From these social media audits, the "Starmade" campaign should focus on these points to be able to reach a wider audience.

• Price-sensitive content/ promotional content/ introduce discount programs.

• Gen Z preferred content/ relatable content (with humour and authenticity elements), in this case, content that allows participants/ audience express their express their creativity.

• It showed that the audience of Starbucks is drawn to posts/ content about the launch of new merchandise lines.

This is not the finalised content calendar yet. I might get some suggestions and improve this later on, as I think that this calendar is quite rushed and condensed into just more than a month.

PHASE 1

Survey question list: all teammates sent in their 10 questions for the survey -> I chose the 10 most relevant ones for the final survey -> I made the survey list.

Big idea and the rationale behind the campaign: initially, the team decided on the big idea -> I developed it to make it clearer (make more sense).

Analyse the survey results: I analysed the results -> made a detailed analysis of the target audience -> created a persona based on the target audience analysis.

Brand analysis: I was in charge of this.

Competitors' analysis: Minh Trang was in charge.

Social media audit (Starbucks and its competitors): all teammates contributed.

Slides: Based on the information gathered from all of the phases above, I made the presentation slides.

All teammates will be presenting on the 29th Oct.

The Starmade campaign's goals are to drive more engagement and sales from the targeted customers (creative students) by offering time-limited discount programs (address the TA's pain point).

So to attract more creative students, I want the campaign to be creative (of course), but also for students to feel like they are a part of this campaign and help build it up. That way, they can be more engaged and follow through as the campaign develops.

I want to establish a design contest for creative students or local artists in the same age range. The social media audit of Starbucks shows that people engage with and are interested in posts mostly featuring new merchandise lines and designs. So the vision is to make the target audience the ones who design this campaign's merchandise line by having them send in their designs, and then we will have a poll/ post on social media for followers to vote for their favourite design. This way, by the end of the contest, the most voted design will be for the merchandise products (maybe the winning artist/ student will redesign the design to fit the brand guidelines).

Along with the contest, we also want to leverage Starbucks' social media by posting more regularly (mini vlogs/ carousel posts/ etc.) and creating Instagram templates (which are now really famous and mostly used by the younger demographic, as long as the template is relevant and has the "stories" materials) for followers to post their Starbucks (creative) moments using those templates. Maybe also creative influencers/ creators collaborations.

Apart from the online campaign part, we also want to push sales and actual store visits by installing creative corners in Starbucks' actual stores and offering discount programs (sales like never before). Like having an interactive or Instagram stories materials check in corner. Basically, things that can attract people to actually go to Starbucks to try out its limited drinks and pastry combo offers, and use the place as a place to socialise/ work/ study.

I'll be updating more detailed ideas later on.