How Starbucks Connects To 21st Century Business

April 18, 2011 - PRLog -- Will Marre, leadership expert and author of Save the World and Still Be Home For Dinner, announces a new study group as part of his “Apple to Zappos: Leadership Lessons From Today’s Successful Leaders Who Are Doing Things No One Else Is” research.  With students from University of California San Diego Marre is examining how aging, iconic brands can successfully be reenergized for 21st century business.

Marre states, “When iconic brands whither they lose their unique emotional connection to consumers.  They become irrelevant.” According to Marre, resurrecting and recharging an iconic brand is extremely difficult. He cites Zenith Electronics, Chevrolet and Levis as companies that all once had one of a kind brand power that emotionally flamed our experience.  Marre says, “A great brand relationship is like being in love.  Once you let it wither, it takes ten times the effort to light a spark.”  Marre contends that is what makes Steve Jobs’ Apple turnaround admired.  Recently Howard Schultz has done the same with the revitalized fast growing Starbucks.

According to Marre, iconic brands become relevant again in two ways.  First they focus a few very talented people to create a series of game-changing product homeruns.  Marre contends that Apple and Starbucks are great examples of this through Apple’s grape iMac to their iPad and Starbucks’ Pike Place Roast and VIA instant coffee.

The second way an iconic brand reconnects emotionally with customers again is through social relevance.  Starbucks has embraced this wholeheartedly by making major investments in its sustainable, socially responsible supply chain of fair trade coffee and initiatives such as their Global Month of Service, which brings together their employees (partners) and customers in local community projects around the world.  

Marre states, “What’s so potent about Starbucks’ refound mojo is that they have harnessed the social values of 76 million millennial consumers in the U.S., over 100 million more worldwide and made it personal.”  He continues, “The best brand experience occurs when an employee becomes an ambassador of values shared by their company in the service of something bigger than self-interest.  It just seems to make the coffee taste better.”  

Schultz states, “When you love something, when you care so much, when you feel the responsibility… you find another gear.”

Steve Jobs has always maintained that their products release people to “create things that make a difference and not just to get a job done.”    

Marre contends, “When leaders combine great product and big purpose we all notice.”  Visit http://www.willmarre.com/blog to follow Marre’s research and to nominate companies to be included in “Apples to Zappos.”

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About Will Marre:

Will Marre is CEO of Realeadership Alliance and founder of Thought Rocket, a new online leadership development platform providing up-to-the-minute leadership research on what successful organizations are doing to thrive in the 21st century. Will Marre is also the cofounder of the Covey Leadership Center where he brought the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People to millions of executives and managers worldwide. He also heads the advisory board of the Human Performance Institute (a Johnson & Johnson company) and is an Emmy award-winning writer of a public television learning documentary. For more information please visit http://www.willmarre.com.