Manmeet Vohra, Director – Marketing & Category, Tata Starbucks takes us through the company’s growth chart in India, describes the company’s skew towards premiumization and the recently launched global campaign
BY SALONI DUTTA
Q] What has the growth chart in India been like? How has the joint venture between Starbucks Corporation and Tata Global Beverages worked out?
It has been over two years in the Indian market and we are humbled by the response we continue to receive. Currently, we have 61 stores across six cities – Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad. We are focused on delivering the unparalleled Starbucks Experience to our customers in their neighbourhood across markets. The JV has helped the brand grow in a meaningful way in India. It allows us to leverage the deep coffee heritage and expertise of both companies to procure, roast and distribute the finest quality of Indian arabica coffees across Starbucks stores in India.
Q] What is your growth strategy for existing and new markets?
Our customers across markets have extended a very warm welcome to us and we are delighted that many have begun to make Starbucks a part of their daily routine. Our growth strategy is focused on thoughtful and targeted expansion in neighbourhoods where we can add a valuable new experience, where customers can discover new tastes and a new ‘Third Place’ to connect over coffee.
Q] Do you think premiumization can act as a hindrance for the brand’s growth in smaller markets?
Each market is unique and comes with its own set of opportunities and challenges. We’ve found that consumers are willing to walk an extra block and potentially spend a little more because Starbucks provides that distinct ‘Third Place’ between work and home. Our focus remains on nurturing each store to ensure that our customers receive the highest quality Starbucks Experience each time they visit us. We are excited to be in India and focused on a smart, locally relevant and thoughtful growth in the market. We firmly believe that India offers tremendous opportunities for Starbucks to offer a premium coffee experience that is unique to the Starbucks brand.
Q] What is the idea behind using locally sourced and roasted coffee (Tata Coffee) and does this affect the brand perception?
India presents tremendous opportunity towards sourcing and roasting of local premium arabica coffee for consumption in India and around the world. Our sourcing and roasting partnership between Starbucks Coffee Company and Tata Global Beverages empowers us to source, roast and deliver great tasting, high quality and locally sourced espresso to our customers throughout India. The coffee plantations of Tata Coffee in Coorg and our facility in Karnataka allow us to source our espresso locally. The Indian Espresso Roast, which is a hallmark feature of all our stores, highlights the quality espresso available in the Indian market. We launched the India Estates Blend to mark our first anniversary in India. This special country-specific blend is not only a testimony of the strong synergy between Starbucks and Tata Coffee, but also reflects the rich heritage of the Indian coffee history.
Q] Take us through Starbucks’ global campaign.
Starbucks stores have always been community gathering places where friends meet, share laughter, discuss business and life, meet family, get to know someone unknown and celebrate little moments of joy. Today, in the world of social technology where people are communicating with each other more than ever before, our new global campaign showcases the impending need to ‘meet’ each other rather than connecting virtually. Based on the thought, ‘good things happen when we get together’, Starbucks has launched a campaign called ‘Meet Me at Starbucks’ which is brought to life through a series of unscripted videos shot in-store across 28 countries. Each of these videos capture millions of people who get together at Starbucks stores everyday and the stories they have to tell. To bring this to life, we are encouraging our customers to share their #HowWeMet moments across various platforms including our stores and microsite.
Q] What is the marketing objective of the ‘Meet Me at Starbucks’ campaign?
Today we have a million ways of reaching out to each other, but nothing comes close to physically meeting someone for that personal moment of connection. ‘Meet Me at Starbucks’ is a celebration of the simple truth: Good things happen when we get together. When we meet, we get closer, we give more joy and we connect better. Every Starbucks store is a social space outside of home and work that anchors the community. We truly believe in the power of human connections as it is the foundation of Starbucks and has been a defining force in shaping its growth, globally. The beautifully created videos which are an indispensable part of the campaign bring out the nature, and strength, of pure human emotions across all age groups and have been appreciated globally.
Q] What is the brand’s USP?
One of our strengths is the passion that our partners have for our coffee and stores. They play an instrumental role in delivering the unique Starbucks Experience to our customers which is built on three primary components: our products, our places and our people. It starts at the coffee bar where the relationship between our partners (employees) and customers is developed and strengthened; customers come for coffee, stay for the inviting warmth and return for the human connection. While we provide more than high-quality coffee, what sets us apart is that distinct ‘Third Place’ shaped by our partners, and opportunities to connect with others over handcrafted beverages prepared by passionate partners. It is these moments of connection created in our stores that we are known for around the globe.
Q] What are your plans for the brand going forward? What are the challenges you foresee?
We are focused on thoughtful growth, respectful of the strong Indian coffee heritage. Through a steady, disciplined approach to growth we aim to encourage more human connections in every neighbourhood store that we open. This helps us define the Starbucks Experience for our customers in India and enables us to deliver our high-quality coffee, handcrafted beverages, locally relevant food and legendary service to a wider customer base here.
ABOUT THE BRAND
Since 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has been committed to ethically sourcing and roasting the high-quality arabica coffee. Today, with more than 17,000 stores around the globe, and 61 stores in India, the company is one of the premier roasters and retailers of specialty coffee in the world.
It has a JV with Tata Global Beverages, the Tata Group’s global beverage business, and the world’s second largest tea company. The company has a stable of innovative regional and global beverage brands including Tata Tea, Tetley, Himalayan natural mineral water and Eight o’Clock Coffee.
FACTS
Creative Agency: Starbucks Team
Media Agency: Maxus
PR Agency: Edelman
MARKETING TIP
Focus on the emotional connect with your customer and not just transactional.
CMO FILE
Manmeet Vohra has been responsible for the brand marketing and PR of Starbucks in India since July 2013 and oversees the Food & Beverages category management as well. Prior to joining Tata Starbucks Ltd (a 50:50 JV between Tata Global Beverages and Starbucks Coffee Company), Vohra was the Marketing Director of TAG Heuer at LVMH Watch & Jewellery India. She graduated in BCom (Hons) from Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), Delhi University in 1999, before completing her post-graduation from Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA) in 2002, having specialized in Brand Management. She started her career with Lemon Communications and then spent a year at JWT Mumbai in the client servicing department before being approached by LVMH Watch & Jewellery.
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