Starbucks "Roasts" Competition with Crowdsourcing
1) Starbucks brand community is being crowdsourced via "My Starbucks Idea".
As for community roles, there are partners, heroes, catalysts, and supporters. The catalyst is important to My Starbucks Idea because they are the people who come up with new ideas. The partners and supporters encourage the catalysts by liking and giving positive feedback to the catalyst's idea. The heroes in the community are those who ideas are chosen by Starbucks or who make the leadership board. The current leader on the leadership board, username cupajoe4evamoe, has shared 1,762 ideas with the Starbucks community.
The community affiliation for Starbucks is a pool. Consumers in this community share activities, creating ideas for starbucks, and value the brand. The relationships among the community are fairly loose in that you can comment or like any ideas but not really get to know others.
In regards to community script, the Starbucks brand community is most similar to The Sewing Circle (a gathering at which people with common interests share experiences, provide support, and socialize). The Starbucks brand community is able to share current experiences and how the company could improve those experiences. Others are able to like or comment on the posts.
In some ways, the Starbucks brand community on My Starbucks Idea could also be considered The Tour Group (a way to participate in new experiences while staying inside a comfort zone). By participating in the My Starbucks Idea website, you can share ideas and experiences but your identity can be hidden behind a username and computer, allowing users to remain in their comfort zone.
2) Starbucks Melody is a blog written and operated by a fan of the company, Melody. She states on each page that she does not work for Starbucks, not does the company run her blog. She shares news and information going on in the Starbucks community and in the Starbucks brands (Teavana, Tazo Tea, Seattle's Best, etc.).
Melody uses the "embracing" communication method for her blog. She has taken on the "acceptance" of being both a consumer and marketer for Starbucks. Her posts are both individualistic and implicit.
The community reaction is positive because readers are able to like the post, give feedback, and even buy Melody a cup of coffee. Typically, the responses are positive because Melody doesn't typically push her opinions on readers.
3) Many of the things you see at Starbucks today actually were ideas submitted on the My Starbucks Idea website. For example, cake pops, paying via mobile phone at drive thrus, free wifi in store, free birthday treats and splash sticks were all ideas that Starbucks adopted from consumers on the My Starbucks Idea website.
One crowdsourced idea that is currently in the works is installing rain-covers at drive thru order stations. The idea received 7,230 likes and 37 positive comments agreeing with the idea. The thought is that if you have to wait to order, you don't want to get wet by rolling down your window. Especially if you're on your way to work.
This specific idea was a collaborative community form of crowdsourcing. It creates an opportunity for consumers to openly collaborate and create new product initiatives. The trouble with this form of crowdsourcing is intellectual property cannot be protected. Starbucks can monitor the success of the idea by reading positive feedback, increase in drive-thru sales, and likes on the idea on My Starbucks Idea.
4) This form of crowdsourcing was solution generation because the company was collecting ideas from consumers on how to better their services and products. The main goals of this ongoing crowdsourcing project are to collect ideas from the consumers because consumers know what consumers want. Other goals are to respond to consumers, engage consumers and create an online community.
Engagement and outreach are major factors in the success of this crowdsourcing project. In my opinion, Starbucks is using the right approach because all of the ideas that they have taken from consumers have been a major success.
