A Love Hate Relationship

The votes are in. People love Starbucks – and hate it. There are more blogs by and about Starbucks then I would ever have guessed.

Unofficial blogs range from the general, such as Starbucks Melody, who just has a passion for coffee, and Starbucks Drama who gabs about the “goings-on” inside a Starbucks store.

To the specific, such as Unspoken who posts recipes for many of Starbucks’ beverages.

To the international, such as Starbucks In Japan who, surprisingly, blogs about what’s new at Starbucks in Japan, and Bucked by the Star who posts only photos taken inside Japanese stores.

Not my cup, but my name - this should read "Kelly"

To the utterly wacky, such as Pat’s Papers who, in addition to non-Starbucks related content, has dedicated a section to the misspelled names written on the side of the cups, to Starbucks Everywhere, which is the personal blog of a guy on an adventure to visit ALL company-operated Starbucks (he’s visited over 10,000 to date!).

Then there are those written by Starbucks employees, such as Starbucks Dave. Dave describes the blog as a “place to talk about the company I love.” He is also quick to tell his readers that its “not an official Starbucks website.”

Finally, but not completely, there is Starbucks Gossip: Monitoring America’s Favorite Drug Dealer, which, as you can gather from the title, focuses on the, shall we say, less positive side of Starbucks.

There’s not much that employees and fans alike are not blogging about. Of course I have not had the pleasure of speaking with anyone from headquarters, but my guess is they are very pleased with the (online) interaction that customers and employees are having with their company. These bogs are directly inline with their image of “community”.

With all of these unofficial blogs, one would think that Starbucks would not need to have one of their own. Not true. Starbucks itself has four official blogs (that I was able to locate).

There is the main Starbucks Blog, the Shared Values Blog, and two Starbucks Partner Page’s (one for American employees and one for non-USA staff).

Surprisingly, since Starbuck’s is generally very consistent with their branding and messaging, the main Starbucks blog seems to be centered on corporate activities and company products (including their other divisions). The Shared Values blog focuses on their social responsibility around the world. Again, all about what they are doing at headquarters.

I would have expected a blog that talks more about their customers and their connection with the company. I suppose since there are so many unofficial blogs focusing on this content, that it is their job to cover what is missing. (This is where I need to remind my readers that Starbucks has “My Starbucks Ideas”, which, while not a blog, is an online portal for customers to submit their own ideas for the company to implement.)

I do appreciate that both blogs appear to be written by a variety of Starbucks staff members rather than one un-named employee, which is consistent with their philosophy that their employees as “partners” rather than just “staff”.

I was pleased to see that the company does host two internal blogs specifically for staff (partners) only.  Since these two blogs are password protected its hard to say what the topics cover, however, I would hope that they offer content such as advance release of corporate news, tips and techniques for staff, and opportunities for online training and professional development.

“Care more than others think wise. Dream more than others think practical. Expect more than others think possible.” Howard Schultz

Other than CEO Howard Schultz, who is the public face of Starbucks, there is no official spokesperson.

Lindsay Lohan enjoying a smoke and a Starbucks

There are however, countless “promoters” of Starbucks coffee. In fact, it’s hard not to pick up an entertainment magazine these days without seeing a celebrity walking around toting a Starbucks cup in one hand and a dog-in-a-purse in the other.

Unfortunately for Starbucks, not all would be the ideal spokesperson.

If Starbucks were to choose someone to represent their company it would have to be someone who is also environmentally and socially responsible, since this is Starbucks’ image.  I think to name someone who simply likes coffee would be a huge mistake and go against one of Starbucks’ main principles – Expect More Than Coffee.