Final Analysis: Java Jive

If a starbucks barista handed me a cup with the words Race Together written on the side, I would assume she was challenging me to a 100-yard dash. Basically, Im 12 years old, so when anyone wants to race me, its game on! Imagine my surprise to learn Race Together was supposed to get me thinking about race relations.

Actually, the chances of my encountering a Starbucks barista are skinny. First of all, I hate standing in lines. So I can count on one hand the number of times I enter a Starbucks store in the course of a year. Also, I dont drink coffee, so theres that.

I know. Starbucks will gladly sell me juice and pastry and pottery and maybe life insurance and a new mattress because, like any junkie craving a fix, it needs more people to come into its stores today than came in yesterday. To accomplish this, it sells more than just coffee. It deftly practices something called brand journalism, which really has nothing to do with selling coffee. At least not directly.

Brand journalism was invented by companies that have stories to sell sorry, stories to tell but they dont trust real journalists to do the telling. They need to control the message, so they have their PR and marketing people craft stories and initiatives, which are distributed to media organizations that are only too happy to repeat the tale and too understaffed to vet it thoroughly.

You may remember when Starbucks announced last year that it would provide tuition reimbursement for workers who took online courses provided by Arizona State University. Turns out the new plan wasnt as fabulous as it seemed, but Starbucks conveniently chose not to point to the fine print and instead basked in the favorable publicity its new effort attracted.

Similarly, the Race Together initiative was pretty much a lead balloon. Critics panned it across social media, forcing Starbucks to pull back on the idea of handing out cups with provocative messages on them. But Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is a clever guy. The fawning coverage Starbucks receives for its public campaigns is usually much greater than any negative fallout. The reaction to Race Together may be the exception here, but the companys commitment to brand journalism is noteworthy for it persistence.

Paul Pendergrass, who writes about business spin under the pseudonym Jack Flack (jackflack.com), says, Most of the previous campaigns have drawn relatively little scrutiny, while frequently producing glowing accounts of Schultzs latest round of future intentions. Pendergrass calls this approach Schultzs froth formula, a delightfully apt characterization. When clumsily applied to highly sensitive issues like race relations, Pendergrass writes, that formula backfired. But when applied to noncontroversial causes such as job creation, bipartisanship or supporting veterans, it works every time.

Sarah Skerik, a social media strategist (sarahskerik.me), says the goal of brand journalism is finding and telling brand stories in order to convey a comprehensive image of the brand and build brand awareness and affinity.

Im not sure if using brand three times in her definition is Skeriks way of saying brand journalism (like advertising) is all about repetition, but Starbucks is certainly on board with the concept. It rolls out another social campaign every few months, hoping it will strike us as the noble endeavor of a vital, thoughtful and even courageous company a company we would be proud to buy overpriced coffee from.

As Pendergrass points out, these campaigns are geared more for publicity than actual progress. In about the time it takes to run a 100-yard dash, theyre quickly forgotten. What remains, Howard Schultz hopes, is that carefully crafted image.

John Levesque is the managing editor of Seattle Business magazine.