Starbucks Chief Brand Officer Tressie Lieberman on Super Bowl, marketing approach

Starbucks is adding some thunder to its comeback attempt. The coffee giant—which recently debuted a new campaign that emphasizes its personal touch—will continue the effort with a pre-game Super Bowl ad that is backed by AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” and a separate post-game ad that uses the same song while promoting a free tall coffee for rewards members for the day after the game. Both ads come from Anomaly, which the chain recently hired as part of a marketing pivot led by Chief Brand Officer Tressie Lieberman, who joined Starbucks late last year. The pregame spot shows baristas getting ready in the store—bringing out milk, filling the coffee machine with beans, shaking espresso and frothing milk. There is also a clip from Starbucks’ first ad from Anomaly, which debuted in late January and shows a barista uncapping a Sharpie to write on a cup. “The Starbucks you love is back … hello again,” says the voiceover over a montage of baristas and customers holding a cup. The postgame ad includes similar scenes but ends by plugging Monday’s free tall coffee for rewards members. The postgame ad includes similar scenes but ends by plugging Monday’s free tall coffee for rewards members. The website StarbucksMonday.com details how members can apply their in-app coupon and how new members will be able to get a free coffee in store. “Starbucks has a history of music being part of our brand,” Lieberman said about the song choice. “I think brands often feel they have to pull at heartstrings, but we want to give you chills. It’s unexpected, but the right choice. AC/DC is energy and we are a brand about energy.” That energy had been lacking as Starbucks dealt with perceptions about its products being too expensive and its rewards program too confusing. Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, the former Chipotle and Taco Bell chief executive, has been implementing significant changes since taking the helm in September, including hiring Lieberman, whom he has previously worked with in various capacities. Niccol’s “back to Starbucks” vision has emphasized the chain’s coffee and in-store experience. “It’s a partnership between the brand and operations team because we are an experiential merchant,” Lieberman said. A large part of the turnaround has been a reinvestment in marketing. “We’re switching dollars out of discounting into what I would call working dollars for the brand and brand experience,” Niccol said during the company’s most recent earnings call. Rachel Ruggeri, Starbucks’ chief financial officer, added that marketing dollars as a percentage of revenue have “close to doubled.” The efforts are showing early promise. Starbucks’ North America and U.S. comparable store sales fell by 4% for the fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 29, compared to a 6% decline in the previous quarter. The ad that debuted in January includes scenes of baristas writing messages on cups with The Ting Tings’ “That’s Not My Name” playing throughout. The ad and the new writing messages practice are a nod to Starbucks’ history of writing customer names on cups (sometimes incorrectly) for years. The brand stopped during the pandemic, only printing names and orders onto stickers. Now baristas are using hand-written messages in addition to the stickers. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Anthony (@instantsal) Starbucks had awarded its U.S. creative business to WPP in October of last year, then quickly moved the account to Stagwell’s Anomaly in January. Ad Age caught up with Lieberman on the brand’s agency approach, how Starbucks uses data in marketing and its surrounding Super Bowl plans. This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. Why did Starbucks hire Anomaly? For this particular campaign we made the decision for Anomaly to lead it. We do have a lot of agency partners and my job is to make sure that we get the right campaigns in front of customers. The brief for this was simple—talk about what makes Starbucks, Starbucks. And Anomaly had a beautiful way to articulate that. The “Not My Name” ad taps into the humanity of our brand, and you’ll see a snippet of it in the second ad, because it’s part of the broader story. How does data play a role in your marketing? The cool part about my job is that I am responsible for marketing, product development, digital and analytics. Having the customer journey and customer experience in one place is a superpower. Data is core to our business and we get so much from social media. Starbucks has over 40 million hashtags on Instagram alone. That lets us look at big trends in the Starbucks community. Our “Not My Name” ad is a great example—when Brian talked about bringing back Sharpies in fall earnings, that blew up. Explain the decision to buy a pre-game Super Bowl ad and not an in-game ad? I think we’ll get a lot of visibility and engagement before, and we could run a 60-second ad. We will run one after the Super Bowl about the day after, Monday, where rewards members can get a free tall iced or hot coffee. Super Bowl commercials Tracking the latest brand and agency plans Click here What is it like working with Brian Niccol? He is a CEO with a marketing background—how does that help or hinder your work? This is my fourth job working with Brian so we trust each other and can move things forward at an accelerated rate. He is an incredible marketer but is leaning on our team to execute his vision. What trends are you watching? I think this year, the brands that get it will tell compelling stories. There is so much talk of AI, but I think good old fashioned storytelling will win. Marketing has not changed: you have to find the right insights and tap into them. We just need to keep executing against those fundamentals.

Starbucks chief brand officer on its Super Bowl plans and new marketing approach

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