1st Mock-Up paid post on the right.
2nd Mock-Up on the left, Full caption (as some text is not clearly visible): Burnout? We got you! Take your time at Starbucks and recharge with us. Read our blog on how to choose a drink if sometimes you feel too tired to make your decision (link). #coffee #recharge
3rd Mock-Up Instagram story
This is the original idea of animated Instagram posts.
These were two more designs created with the same idea about burnout but the final choice was above.
Rationale
Introduction
The client for this campaign is Starbucks. The creative concept for this brand is “Starbucks is there for you to recharge”. They want to bring back customers after a vital crisis for them: the pandemic. The chosen target audience is millennials aged 28-40. Starbucks is asking to address the societal issues in a creative way and remind us that their main value is community. The main goals are to increase online engagement by 35% and foot traffic in stores by 50%. Most objectives relate to social media and web traffic rise. They are asking for 3 creative pieces: 3 social media mock-ups with one being sponsored, a creative blog, and earned influencer video. These should contribute to the previously mentioned goals and objectives.
Strategy and concept
The first step in creating the creative concept was research. According to Krost (2018), the millennials aged 28-40 don't have a lot of time for themselves, try to achieve a balance between work and life, and lack enthusiasm for their jobs. This made me think about a serious societal issue within this age group: burnout. My creative concept raises the topic of tiredness and lack of energy. It contributes to the product of Starbucks: coffee and refreshment drinks, therefore the focus of the campaign is not on service. The idea is that Starbucks is there for every person to recharge and refresh in their own special way. This creative concept is for millennials aged 28-40.
Even though Facebook is the most used social media platform in the world, I have decided to use Instagram. According to Beveridge (2022), the age group of 25-34 are the main Instagram users, who fall under almost the same target audience Starbucks wants to attract. The second reason relates to one of the objectives to raise Instagram engagement by 25%. I thought that as Facebook is already a well-engaged platform the brand needs to increase activity on Instagram too. In the future, however, I would suggest engaging more platforms with adapted content to each.
As the main Starbucks competitor, I chose Costa Coffee. According to Mintel (2021), Costa Coffee has an awareness rate of 98%, while Starbucks is nearly as close with 97%. From Costa's social media it was clear that the dominating visuals are their drinks (Fig.1). The creative concept for Starbucks would differentiate itself, as the focus is not only on the products but on the message and raised societal issues.
The creative idea, overall, should benefit the main goals and objectives of Starbucks. I believe, that the idea of addressing the problem of burnout is relevant to the target audience and should sympathize with them. Every piece of work relates to the promise that Starbucks is there for their customers with their wide variety of drinks to be more productive, energetic, and have a place to rest.
Copywriting, SEO, and design
SEO considerations and copywriting
SEO is an important tool when considering copywriting. Consumers trust organic links more than sponsored ones, therefore to increase exposure marketers use SEO as a tool (Berman & Katona, 2013). According to Jon Earnshaw “The content needs to send signals of quality” and SEO is about choosing the right ones (University of Hertfordshire, 2021).
I have decided to use Ubersuggest to identify the main keywords and trends. The keywords like “starbucks coffee” have a volume of 27.100k per month, “starbucks menu uk” 33.100k, “starbucks drinks” 14.800k in the UK (Ubersuggest, 2022). Most of my keyword choices are related to Starbucks drinks, coffee, and their menu, especially in the blog writing.
In my copies, I use an expressive tone to match the actual brand voice. According to Shleyner (2018), the best length for an owned Instagram post is around 138 to 150 characters and the paid post is shorter with 125 characters or less. The post should not be overcrowded with hashtags, otherwise, it is going to look not professional. Therefore, my main hashtags concerning SEO are #recharge #coffee #starbucksuk.
Design and visuals
According to Starbucks (2020) in their works, they use either functional or expressive tones. In most of my works, I tried to repeat this style to represent the actual brand as close as possible. The main font used is "Garet” and “Garet Book". These looked most like original Starbucks fonts.
For my Instagram story, I chose to focus on the feeling of enjoying time with yourself and rest. It works as a reminder for the customer who is scrolling through his social media and creates social media visibility. The image of a woman enjoying her time brings a feeling of pleasure and calmness. The dominating color is brown. According to Lundberg (2019), this color brings a feeling of stability. It is also associated with coffee.
One of my Instagram posts is directly related to the topic of burnout. The choice of visuals: dried sunflower in a Starbucks cup and a mellow background of a sunset. The dried sunflower symbolizes the feeling of tiredness and holding the cup closer to the sky shows that Starbucks is trying to give the flower more sun. The words "Let us be your charger" imply that Starbucks is here for you to recharge. This relates to the objective of raising social issues creatively. It also attaches the link to the blog as it is related to the topic of tiredness and inability to focus. This promotes the blog and relates to the objective of raising web traffic.
For my main paid Instagram post I chose to focus on a refreshing drink. The dominating colors are shades of orange and red. According to Lundberg (2019), these colors bring the feeling of joy and catch attention. Elements of splashes create playfulness and energy in the visuals. The call to action here is to use the promotion of trying this drink at half-price. This relates to the objectives of increasing foot traffic in-store.
The profile of the influencer is a life coach, who daily posts videos of 2-3 minutes in length. The choice was based on the previously mentioned pain points of the target audience. The platform for the video is Facebook. The re-package copy of Starbucks encourages customers to take their time and enjoy the moments of rest with a cup of coffee or other beverage and to recharge in their special way.
The blog is written in a creative way not to bombard the consumer but to give a chance to relax and enjoy the reading. The links, in the end, are to the Starbucks menu and where to find the nearest shops nearby. In the blog, some keywords are related to SEO. There is also a promo code to increase the foot traffic in the stores as it gives a discount.
Theory and frameworks
The main goal of all creations was related to the given objectives of the campaign. In the framework of "RACE" the mock-ups, blog, and video take place in all parts, however different elements of each work relate to different stages. According to Chaffey (2022) RACE is a useful framework for managing and improving digital marketing efforts. As “R” stands for “reach” it is important to be visible. Even though Starbucks is already a well-established brand, they still need to continue reaching out to its customers. One more framework which is used in this stage is PESO. Having organic content is important, however, paid content can help to promote desirable information. In the case of my work, there is a mix of paid, owned, and earned elements. "A" stands for "action". In my social media mock-ups and blogs, there are added promotions that are supposed to lead to the next two stages of converting and engaging.
Parts of my work also cover the 3H framework. The hero content is inspiring, help content is relevant and hub content is regular (Dzamic & Kirby, 2018). In my case, the blog would fall under help content, repackaged influencer video under the hero, and social media mock-ups under the hub. The idea behind having all three "H" covered is that it would create engagement and cover more customer segments.
Brands are losing control and customers have joined the conversation (Dzamic & Kirby, 2018). Similarly, Waters (2020) states that media used to have a lot of control over what customers received, however, social media changed this perception. Therefore, a brand must engage with customers and maintain activeness in their social media. From a customer perspective, we are experiencing an information cluster. From a brand perspective, we need to grab attention and be organic. In my work, I tried to achieve a balance between promotions and sincerity. At the end of the day, it is all about experience economy and as marketers, we need to find ways to bring that to customers.
Word count: 1466
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Sources:
All pictures were taken from https://www.canva.com/photos/free/
