Starbucks Corporation CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ...

Marketing to YouthStarbucks customers include people of every ethnicity,income, and age group with varying tastes and interests. Inaddition to our beverages and food items, Starbucks offersproducts meant to educate and entertain all age groups. Wealso seek out philanthropic opportunities, including eventsponsorships, to support the activities and programs that areimportant to the communities in which we operate.Some of our product offerings and community activitiesmay appeal to young people. We are extremely mindful ofconnecting with youth in a responsible manner.Responsible Marketing of LiqueursStarbucks and Jim Beam are committed to the responsiblemarketing of Starbucks Cream Liqueur and Starbucks Coffee Liqueur. The pricing, branding, packaging andmarketing are specifically designed to target matureconsumers. Additionally, Starbucks partners who manage ourliqueur brands are trained on the Distilled Spirits Council ofthe United States (DISCUS) Code of Responsible Practicesfor Beverage Alcohol Advertising and Marketing.Both products are available only in locations licensed to selldistilled spirits and are not sold in Starbucks retail locations.Customer SurveysCustomer surveys offer another mechanism to obtainfeedback about the quality of our customers’ experience.We recently altered our research methods, moving beyondsurveying for satisfaction and focusing instead on identifyingfactors that influence our customers’ experience and theirconnection to the Starbucks brand.In fiscal 2006 Starbucks launched a new survey tool to gatherongoing input from coffee consumers and our customers,including those who had visited Starbucks within 30 days ofthe time of the survey.When customers were surveyed between May and August2006 and asked whether they would recommend Starbucksto a friend or family, 87 percent responded that they wereextremely or very likely to recommend Starbucks.Our recent surveys also have found that the majority ofrespondents are unaware of the company’s socially responsibleinitiatives, including Starbucks support for communityactivities such as local education programs and clean waterprojects. Awareness among our customers was greater thanamong the general population, with 38 percent associatingStarbucks with good corporate citizenship, although westrive to do a better job informing customers about ourefforts to be socially responsible in all aspects of our globalbusiness operations.To gauge customer acceptance of Starbucks in theirneighborhoods, we recently asked survey respondents,specifically those who presently live near a Starbucks, whattheir overall feeling was about having a Starbucks coffeeshop near their home. We found that 66 percent had positivefeelings about having a Starbucks store in their neighborhood,while five percent indicated negative feelings. When we askedother respondents, those who do not currently live near aStarbucks, how they would feel about having a Starbuckscoffee shop open near their home, 53 percent indicatedpositive feelings and 10 percent indicated negative feelings.(See pie charts.)The level of positive consumer acceptance that already existsfor Starbucks is encouraging, particularly given our plansfor future growth. We believe Starbucks demonstratedcommitment to social and environmental responsibilitymatters to consumers and, if we are successful in increasingawareness, will help us continue to gain acceptance in localcommunities and among our neighbors.Q: What is your overall feeling about having a Starbucks coffee shop near your home?Somewhat positive16%Very positive25.8%Extremely positive23.8%Respondents who presently have a Starbucks near home.Neutral/neither positiveor negative29.3%Somewhat negative2.9%Very negative0.9%Extremely negative1.3%Q: How would you feel about a Starbucks coffee shop opening near your home?Somewhat positive12.7%Very positive17.9%Extremely positive22.4%Respondents who do not presently have a Starbucks located near home.Neutral/neither positiveor negative36.9%Somewhat negative3.6%Very negative1.7%Extremely negative4.9%S O C I E T Y52