"Think Seattle, Act Globally" by Lyons

Lyons, J., (2005). Think Seattle, act globally. Cultural Studies, 19(1), 14-34.

Author James Lyons analyzes the rise and dominance of specialty coffee brands in the global context though their promoting of ‘commodity biographies’ as their main strategy of appeal to consumers. Using Starbucks as the main subject of his essay, Lyons emphasizes that the place-specific strategy employed by such companies is the key element to their success, distinguishing themselves from homogenized, mass-produced coffee products. The dominant advertising method of such companies established Seattle as the nation’s capital of ‘coffee-culture’, in turn, enhancing the success of Starbucks by selling the ‘Seattle-experience”. Lyon gives a brief but detailed history of world coffee consumption leading to the history of Starbucks itself to support his arguments, as well as to demonstrate the process of globalization. He then analyzes Starbucks’ use of product placement in movies to illustrate their strategic move to counter public criticism of their company. Lastly, Lyons brings in the 1999 WTO protests to point out the irony of globalization and the complexity between the local-global theme of such place-specific brands. Lyon’s essay is a good reference of the history and rise of Starbucks. His analysis of their marketing strategy seems well researched and accurate. By including the history of coffee and Starbucks, Lyons is able to give clarity on how Starbucks was able to rise to the top of the Coffee industry and how a global commodity, such as coffee, could ‘originate’ from Seattle.

Selling Seattle

Lyons, J. (2004). Selling Seattle: Representing Contemporary Urban America. Great Britain: Wallflower Press.

This book takes into account the persistent and deepening poverty of the 1980s and the nationwide economic recession of the 1990s. It addresses Seattle’s role in changing the urban centre, despite the negative economic and social restructuring occurring in other American cities. Gourmet coffee consumption during this era, introduces capitalism and globalism to an otherwise over looked city. It is through imagery and narrative, in which gourmet coffee makers such as Starbucks capitalize on local differentiation. Selling and branding consumption practices and place to attract customers. History suggests coffee is indefeasibly bound with the rise of capitalism. Coffee connects the poor underdeveloped countries to the south with the rich industrialized countries of the north. The first Starbucks opened in 1971, in Pike Place Market. Pike Place was an instance of the refashioning of urban space to the taste and aesthetics of the expanding class of white-collared workers in the financial and business services sectors. Pike Place represents both the resistance to and at the same time a product of global forces. From the start, Howard Scholtz announced his plan to, “Position Starbucks coffee as the first natural brand of specialty coffee.” Here in Seattle we believe in the coffee experience; rather than take our coffee home to be drunk, consumption was a display, in chic coffee bars, the perfect consumable commodity for the advanced service city, giving capitalism its caffeine boost, whilst at the same time helping to keep coffee’s stock buoyant on the world market. Starbucks has cultivated an image as a Pacific Northwest phenomenon by supporting particular renditions of the ‘Urban Lifestyle’.

The Starbucks Experience

Michelli, J.A. (2007). The starbucks experience. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

            This book examines the Starbucks Company and how it has taken the coffee business to new levels and transformed it into a business success. The book places great emphasis on the ‘experience’ while working at or visiting a Starbucks. Everyone has a different experience and Starbucks values it, working hard and strategically in making the experience enjoyable and customary. In correspondence with each chapter there are five key principles: Making It Your Own, Everything Matters, Surprise and Delight, Embrace Resistance, and Leave Your Mark. These principles are set out to, if applied on a consistent basis and with a passion, to enable people and companies to seize on the types of opportunities that led Starbucks to its international prominence. The principles are also offered with the goal that the reader will apply them to his or her own situation to develop their leadership role in business and beyond.  

Logo Logic: The Ups and Downs of Branded Political Communication

Bennett, W. Lance and Taso Lagos. "Logo Logic: The Ups and Downs of Branded Political Communication." The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 611, no. 193 (2007): 193-206.

This article discusses the strategy of attaching a political message to a familiar corporate brand in attempt to hold some political leverage for change over the brand/company. The main examples the article calls on are Nike, referencing the sweatshop scandal, and Starbucks in connection with the push for fair trade coffee. Bennett and Lagos describe the benefits of this method, discussing the ability to attach political messages to a “lifestyle” brand and therefore lifestyles of customers as well, which has a double affect of causing a widespread awareness. The article also discusses some of the challenges of this method, mostly having to do with sustainability of the negative image until an actual change is made instead of just being acknowledged. They conclude by stating that while this method may be ideal for spreading a political message, it may not be the most effective way to obtain political or economic change in a company.

“The Starbucks Brandscape and Consumers’ (Anticorporate) Experiences of Glocalization” by Anna Petrocco

Arsel, Zeynep, & Thompson, Craig J. (2004). The Starbucks Brandscape and Consumers’ (Anticorporate) Experiences of Glocalization. Journal of Consumer Research, 31, 631-642.

This article takes a look at how Starbucks’ dominance within the coffee industry has changed coffee culture today, and how this has been adapted both locally and globally. A study was conducted to interview 35 people over a two year period on their background and personal experiences with coffee shops both globally and locally. The term urban flaneur is introduced to describe the general populous of coffee consumers who simply choose to drink coffee at local coffee shops to enjoy the general contact with people, although this contact is typically passive. Overall, the articles findings conclude that the Starbucks brandscape adds to current brand meanings which generate consumer identities, social networks, and marketplace cultures, and also how these traits can be widely contested by consumers.