Starbucks launched a global campaign called "Starbucks The Bank" on March 9th, 2012. They reframed their story to focus on design, innovation, and sustainability. They reached out to influencers using a new language and shared images that these communities wanted to publish. This resulted in over 72 million impressions across 1,200 articles and 10,000 tweets that reached 8 million people. Starbucks activated major cultural influencers and became a topic of discussion among global business leaders. Their campaign ignited global social media chatter and increased awareness of Starbucks on Google across many languages.

1. STARBUCKS ‘THE BANK’
GLOBAL LAUNCH
March 19th 2012

2. ON MARCH 9TH 2012
WE CHANGED OUR GAME.

3. We embraced a new way
of communicating it to
the world.
We changed the Starbucks
coffee experience.

4. We reframed our story to be not just a
coffee narrative, but also one about
design, innovation & sustainability.

5. Using a new language, we
reached out to influencers at
home and afar.
The hundreds of
(micro) communities around
the globe that cater to the
cultural and creative elite.
Design blogs, innovation sites,
business press, sustainability
pundits and coffee geeks.

6. We told our story in their language, not ours.
Gave them the
images they
wanted to
publish, not
necessarily
the ones we
were
comfortable to
give. And entered a
dialogue with
them in order to
adapt our story to
meet their
specific needs.

7. WE CELEBRATED OUR LINK TO HOLLAND’S COFFEE HERITAGE AND
PUT LOCAL DESIGN TALENT IN THE SPOTLIGHT
91Dutch publications
3National Radio interviews
2Television reports
Reaching 6.7 million people

8. AND MADE IT A SYMBOL OF RENAISSANCE
and more

9. AND THE
RESULTS
WERE EXTRAORDINARY

10. GIVE OR TAKE
72,000,000TOTAL REACH
10,000
TWEETS THAT REACHED
8,000,000
PEOPLE
5,500SOCIAL MEDIA SHARING*
1,200ARTICLES PUBLISHED
THE SUPERLATIVE
RESULTS
*THIS # INDICATES HOW MANY PEOPLE SHARED THE STORY DIRECTLY FROM AN
ONLINE PUBLICATION VIA FACEBOOK, GOOGLE+, PINTEREST & LINKED-IN. WE’VE
EXCLUDED TWITTER FROM OUR CALCULATIONS BECAUSE THAT’S LISTED SEPARATELY
ON THIS PAGE. THE EXAMPLE UNDER IS FROM DEZEEN. NOTE THE PINS!

11. WE ACTIVATED EVERY MAJOR CULTURAL
INFLUENCER THAT MATTERS

12. AND BECAME THE TALK OF THE TOWN AMONG
GLOBAL BUSINESS LEADERS

13. WHO EMBRACED US THE WAY WE WANTED THEM TO

14. WE IGNITED GLOBAL TWITTER CHATTER

16. WHICH LED TO EVEN MORE GLOBAL TWITTER CHATTER (RETWEETS)

17. AND EVEN MORE GLOBAL CHATTER (PINTEREST)

18. And they are
still passing
it on today
and asking
for more…

19. TODAY WE SHOW UP ON GOOGLE IN IN ALMOST
EVERY LANGUAGE ON THE PLANET

20. The story of Starbucks The
Bank continues in-store.
We openly invite people to
tweet about their
experience using
#starbucksthebank.
We interact with them,
respond to their queries
and give them reasons to
follow us and ‘Like’ us daily

21. Starbucks The Bank is only the
beginning of our journey.
We have created expectations, and
now we must live up to them.
Innovatively, sustainably and
socially.
THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING OF OUR JOURNEY. WE HAVE CREATED EXPECTATIONS,
AND WE MUST LIVE UP TO THEM – SUSTAINABLY, SOCIALLY AND INNOVATIVELY.

22. ON MARCH 9TH 2012
WE CHANGED OUR
GAME…
…AND THE WORLD
LISTENED.