Your point of purchase Indivisible blend of coffee.
In their typical astute marketing fashion, Starbucks has launched a campaign to sell coffee and create jobs. The “Let’s Create Jobs for USA” campaign focuses on raising the awareness that access to capital in the form of loans is a basic component to creating jobs. This lesson in basic business economics is one that should be studied by congress.
Just a little cafe with a big reach
Starbucks has seen its own fortunes rise and fall with the economy with the closure of an estimated 600 stores starting in 2008. Even though their sales are diversified across many different retail outlets, it is their stand alone Starbucks retail stores that are the engine of the company. Consequently, they are a little more in-tune with the small business model that employees folks from the community.
God bless America and coffee
Starbucks has branded their bags of coffee, travel mugs and wrist bands with a heavily patriotic motif of red, white and blue colors and a catchy moniker “Indivisible” just in time for 4th of July. Purchases of these products creates a $5 donation to a community development loan fund. How much of this money is actually lent to small and disadvantage business or individuals is not noted.
Business finance course via Starbucks
The infographics on their fold out newsprint brochure are nice, but it is all a little muddled with acronyms like CDFIs and OFN (Community Development Financial Institutions and Opportunity Finance Network.) The philanthropic pitch is that all the money will be lent to businesses and organizations that work in low-income, low-wealth and disadvantaged communities across America. The statistics and economic linkages discussed in the literature are important for understanding how development and jobs are created in our communities
A case study in marketing
The more I studied the Starbucks jobs campaign the greater my appreciation for their marketing savvy grew. They have created a marketing campaign that sells coffee and burnishes their credentials as a corporate interest that puts America first. Congress should take a few lessons from Starbucks and maybe we would have real jobs program by now.
Starbucks put their money where their mouth is by purchasing Divisible coffee mugs from an Ohio Manufacturer American Mug and Stein Company.
