Communications Strategy | Copywriting | Training

Starbucks, Internal Communications Campaign & Training Support

Seattle, WA | New York, NY

Launching with a communications campaign and a robust training and support platform for the 200+ Starbucks designers across the Americas region was essential to the smooth implementation of the company’s newly rebooted furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E) palette — the most comprehensive in the company’s history.

By branding such a complete effort, the concepts team gave confidence and optimism to these designers — for the first time seen as clients — that the change they needed was coming, delivered in a way they could appreciate and be inspired by.

Brief, cheeky email blasts, called Single Shots, were sent almost daily to ensure awareness and understanding. Palettes of the Month were composed to help designers understand how catalog elements might come together more colorfully, and quick reference collateral materials were developed as a desktop supplement to the corporate intranet. “Office hours” were even held by key concepts team members to better support designers in the field.

These efforts played a major role in the success of the new FF&E palette — and were a step-change in support of Starbucks designers, who had never had this level of program support or this breadth of tools to use in crafting their stores.

Credits: Americas Concepts Director Scott Mitchem; Concepts Design Managers Corrie Bell, Jay Keller, Angelica Valencia, and Jonah Wilcox-Healy; Program Manager Brian Collins; Concepts Coordinators Karina Yob and Lauren Williams; photos courtesy of Starbucks