Executive Summary

Maddie Forrest

Chelsea Wisner

Sarah Olfelt

CJ 491 Case Study Research Paper

Executive Summary:

Over the past few weeks, the research team focused in on three major coffee companies. They include: Starbucks, Caribou, and Dunkin’ Donuts. The members studying this focused on coffee simply because the millennial generation has a fascination with coffee and products relating around coffee. Though the team all had their own hypotheses regarding which coffee company is more popular, it is clear that Starbucks has more outreach to their costumer. The team learned this through their research. Our analysis and findings (in bullet form) are listed below:

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  Starbucks has the most Facebook followers.
  
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  Dunkin’ Donuts has very little feedback to complaints by their followers.
  
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  Dunkin’ Donuts has the greatest and most active Pinterest account.
  
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  While Starbucks has their own Pinterest account, the majority of pins are repins from other followers making copycat recipes.
  
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  Caribou’s social media is consistent across all social media platforms. They don’t post every day on Instagram, but rather every three days. While this doesn’t seem good, it works for their followers. They get, on average, 1000 likes and about 10-20 comments on photos.
  
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  In general, Starbucks easily has the most social engagement because it has the largest customer base.
  
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  All three coffee companies are very different sizes. Starbucks is global, Dunkin’ Donuts is national, and Caribou is regional. This is important to note because it will obviously have an effect on the amount of followers each company has.
  

Comparative Analysis:

Dunkin’ Donuts’ Facebook lacked feedback to consumers and had an overall tendency to ignore the problems that their consumers expressed. There was little to no feedback on comments that followers left or answers to questions posed. Starbucks’ Facebook has the most followers by far and responds more than Dunkin’ Donuts to comments. Caribou’s Facebook was in the middle as far as consumer feedback and engagement.

On average, Caribou posts every three days on Instagram which is less frequent than Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks. Starbucks re-post frequently on Instagram to engage with their consumer base. They also post a lot of videos which are eye catching and pop with color.  Dunkin’ Donuts could take better advantage of Instagram by posting “Insta” only photos instead of just repeating from Facebook and Twitter.

Dunkin’ Donuts’ Twitter had the most successful following by a large amount. They Tweet very frequently, accruing over 77 thousand tweets. They post a lot of images and short videos. Caribou’s Twitter had the second largest following and post consistently. Twitter was Starbucks’ weakest social media platform. The team believes this to be the result of Starbucks wanting to keep their interactions warm and personal on Instagram rather than Twitter.

Dunkin’ Donuts also seemed to excel at their Pinterest. With visually striking boards and involving their customers, they had a vibrant and strong Pinterest account. Starbucks was not active as much lately, most likely due to the decline in Pinterest use in the public. Caribou did not have a Pinterest account.

The social currency that seems to take home the bacon is Starbucks. Although the three brands have different strengths, Starbucks has the most consistently appealing platforms and have the strongest following.  

Strategic Objectives:

It is clear that all three companies want to draw in new customers with eye-catching graphics and the optimal use of visual storytelling. Starbucks utilizes Instagram with this tactic especially well in telling their audience the story of coffee. They use effective messaging in showing potential customers the aesthetically pleasing look of the coffee, which is extremely important to a lot of Instagram users.

Dunkin’ Donuts works hard to instill customer loyalty in their Pinterest account. They ask their followers to share their ideas and re-pin from fans so that they can have positive interactions with their customer base. They also think outside of the box on what they pin about. Instead of just coffee or recipes, they also have boards for Halloween ideas, allowing themselves to be a part of their customer’s lives in a way that’s more than just their morning coffee.

Caribou Coffee shows their strength in their main website. Knowing that this is what comes up first when users look for Caribou Coffee, they make their website the most appealing it can be. The objective of their website is to inform and entice. By showing the delicious coffee and tasty bagels in high definition and quality pictures, they are obviously trying to get that image in their potential customer’s head so that the next time they’re wondering what they should eat for breakfast, Caribou Coffee is already in the back of their mind. Their contact information and social media accounts are also easily accessible, making them easy to keep in touch with which many users look for in a company.

Which is Most Effective:

Based on all social engagement across the social media platforms, the research team felt as though Starbucks was more advanced. Instagram, the team felt, is the most popular social media platform within the primary population using social media. Because Starbucks can visually tell a heartwarming story through Instagram, it seems as though they chose to stress Instagram as their app of choice. Starbucks also has significantly more engagement on Instagram and Facebook in terms of likes, comments and shares. Coming in second would be Dunkin’ Donuts, due to their exceptional Pinterest and Twitter accounts. Lastly, Caribou has a very average following, but they just do not have more engagement due to the size of their company.

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