STARBUCKS STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PLAN on Breastfeeding Without Discrimination at All Starbucks Locations in the United States

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STARBUCKS STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PLAN on Breastfeeding Without Discrimination at All Starbucks Locations in the United States STARBUCKS STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PLAN on Breastfeeding without Discrimination at all Starbucks Locations in the United States Catherine Kong, Julia Maludzinski, Josette Blackwood, Idan Dor TABLE OF CONTENTS I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY II. SITUATION ANALYSIS A. BACKGROUND B. PROBLEM C. CONCERNS D. POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS E. SWOT ANALYSIS F. NEXT STEPS III. GOAL IV. OBJECTIVE #1 : BREASTFEEDING MOTHERS A. STRATEGIES B. TACTICS C. EVALUATION V. OBJECTIVE #2 : ALL STARBUCKS EMPLOYEES (CORPORATE & FRONT-LINE) A. STRATEGIES B. TACTICS C. EVALUATION VI. OBJECTIVE #3 : FRONT-LINE EMPLOYEES A. STRATEGIES B. TACTICS C. EVALUATION VII. OBJECTIVE #4: STARBUCKS CUSTOMERS A. STRATEGIES B. TACTICS C. EVALUATION VIII. KEY MESSAGING IX. BUDGET & TIMELINE Executive Summary Starbucks was founded in 1971 by three college friends: Gerald Baldwin, Gordon Bowker and Zev Siegl. In its early days, the company specialized in importing and roasting coffee, and selling coffee beans to local restaurants. Years later, former sales rep Howard Shultz saw great potential for the brand, and along with a group of investors he purchased the company in 1987. Shultz rebranded Starbucks with a vision to mimic Italian café culture and create an inviting place for customers to gather. Under his direction, Starbucks has since grown, and today has become one of the most well-loved and widely-recognized coffeehouse chains in the world. Since the beginning, Starbucks has cultivated a unique corporate culture. With a practice of putting employees first, they have an extensive training program that ensures all staff step on the floor feeling engaged and prepared. Customers come a close second, and Starbucks strives to “develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all the time.” This commitment to employee and customer relations has been integral to Starbucks’ success. This communications plan has been developed in reaction to a case that threatened to destroy this culture and disrupt business processes across the company. The case in question was a “nurse-in,” staged at a Maryland Starbucks in protest of alleged discrimination against breastfeeding mothers. The protest was a response to an earlier incident where a mother was asked by a Starbucks employee to either cover up or move to the bathroom when breastfeeding her daughter. This action took place after the employee received several complaints from customers. Research revealed that the law in Maryland and across the United States supports a woman’s right to breastfeed in public; therefore, the focus of this plan will be to introduce the company-wide policy that allows mothers to breastfeed without discrimination in all American Starbucks locations. The plan will be structured in a way that upholds Starbucks’ commitment to both employee and customer satisfaction. This will be achieved through four objectives, that separately target the needs of breastfeeding mothers, company employees and Starbucks customers. Initially, the tactics will seek to obtain approval by breastfeeding activists. The next steps will be to introduce the policy to Starbucks employees, and ensure they are fully-trained on how to follow the new procedures. Finally, it will be necessary to communicate and bring awareness of the changes to Starbucks customers. With a proposed budget of $584,000, the timeline for the plan is as follows: it is proposed that breastfeeding activists will support the new policy, at which point the changes will officially take effect company-wide in November 2017. The aim is to ensure that the policy is understood by employees by September 2017, with full compliance among front-line employees by December 2017. This will allow employees to confidently communicate the policy to Starbucks customers when it is implemented, as mentioned, in November 2017. Situation Analysis Situation Background On August 4, 2004, a group of over 100 mothers, fathers and children, congregated at a Maryland Starbucks to stage a “nurse-in” protest. The protest was led by Lorig Charkoudian, and was the result of an incident that had occurred at the very same Starbucks location a month prior. Following several customer complaints, a Starbucks employee had asked Lorig, a customer herself, to either cover up or relocate to the bathroom while breastfeeding her 15-month-old daughter. Problem First, it is important to note that there were at least three parties involved in the incident: • Lorig, the breastfeeding mother. • The customers who complained about witnessing Lorig breastfeeding. • The Starbucks employee who intervened. The problem faced by Starbucks is that of which demographic to satisfy. Concerns to Address According to Starbucks’ corporate culture “employees clearly come first.” In the case of the breastfeeding incident, the Starbucks employee was forced into speaking on behalf of the complaining customers. It remains undetermined if the employee was uncomfortable having to undertake this action. However, what is certain is that the lack of company policy related to breastfeeding inside the store left the employee unprepared to respond. The lack of training regarding how to officially respond to these types of incidents ignores the needs of Starbucks’ most “important” demographic. Another concern is one of Starbucks’ guiding principles, which indicates that no customer should ever have a “bad experience” in the store. The difficulty in this case is determining which customer experience takes precedent: Lorig’s or that of the complaining customers. It is impossible for Starbucks to satisfy both demographics. Therefore, it is necessary for the company to make a decision: draft policy to address the alleged discrimination against breastfeeding or choose to protect the views of those made uncomfortable by it. Political Implications In May 2003, over a year before the incident in the Starbucks store occurred, Maryland passed an Act that allows women to breastfeed their children in public. According to the Act: • A woman may breastfeed her child in any public or private location. • No one can interfere with a woman’s right to breastfeed her child wherever she chooses. In addition to this, several other states have legislation pertaining to a woman’s right to breastfeed. Although the state laws differentiate in certain elements, such as the degree of exposure of the woman’s breast, the underlying argument is that it is unlawful to discriminate against a breastfeeding mother. As a result, the best course of action is for Starbucks to respond by drafting a policy in support of breastfeeding at American Starbucks locations. Above all, Starbucks must operate under the law, and the law dictates that women have the choice of where to breastfeed their children, whether that be in private or in a coffee shop. SWOT Analysis Strengths: Starbucks is a well-known brand, that has an otherwise good reputation. Although the incident was damaging, it is unlikely that it had any lasting repercussions on the company’s success. The incident also brought light to an emerging problem, giving Starbucks the opportunity to intervene before the issue reached the crisis stage. The fact that Starbucks is also known as a “progressive, even liberal” company, means that the response of creating such a policy will come as no surprise to many. Since the policy is in line with corporate culture, there is a better chance that it will be well received by both employees and customers. Weaknesses: By implementing a completely new policy, it will be necessary to re-train all employees. This process could prove to be lengthy and costly, and would take away from time otherwise spent on workplace duties that drive business. It will also be difficult to implement a company-wide policy in a company that operates in different states, given the fact that the laws related to breastfeeding differ from state to state. Opportunities: Although this is the result of an unfortunate incident, it is an opportunity for Starbucks to become an industry leader. They will do so by becoming one of the first restaurant chains to implement an official breastfeeding policy. A similar incident at a McDonald’s received no follow up from the company. Likewise, a situation at a Burger King only resulted in a lacklustre response, asking complaining customers to simply move somewhere else. Starbucks will be the first to bring credible attention to the issue. Threats: As with any provocative issue, there will be those that oppose the policy. The risk is that the demographic of “complaining customers” could stage a boycott against Starbucks and their blatant support of such a controversial practice. Evidence exists to support this theory, as there was already backlash after the “nurse-in” protest. A customer claimed that the event was a severe “overreaction,” therefore Starbucks’ new policy could also be viewed in a similar manner. There is also a risk that after implementing the policy, breastfeeding advocates might still remain unsatisfied. Next Steps Taking all of this into account, the next steps are to create objectives that will allow mothers to breastfeed their children, without discrimination. It will be necessary to draft a communications plan that implements the company-wide policy in support of breastfeeding in Starbucks stores. It will be important to do so keeping in mind the needs of company employees and other customers as well. The objective and corresponding tactics will need to address how to educate employees on the logistics of the policy, including how they will communicate the new policy to Starbucks’ customers.
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