ASSIGNMENT 2ND SEMESTER: BRAND MANAGEMENT …imm-gsm.s3.amazonaws.com/2014/Docs/semester2/Assignments 2nd... · Strategic Brand Management: Building, ... Chapter 2) QUESTION 2

Page 1 of 32

© IMM Graduate School of Marketing Assignment: 2

nd Semester 2014 BM001

ASSIGNMENT 2ND SEMESTER: BRAND MANAGEMENT (BM001)

CHAPTERS COVERED : CHAPTERS 1 - 7 DUE DATE : 3:00 p.m. 19 AUGUST 2014 TOTAL MARKS : 100 CASE STUDY : TEAVANA CASE STUDY

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES FOR COMPLETING AND SUBMITTING ASSIGNMENTS

The complete ‘Instructions to Students for Completing and Submitting Assignments’ must be collected from any IMM GSM office, or the relevant IMM GSM recognised additional tuition centre or can be downloaded from the IMM GSM website. It is essential that the complete instructions be studied prior to commencing your assignment. The following points highlight only a few important notes.

1) You are required to submit ONE assignment per module.

2) The assignment will contribute 20% towards the final examination mark, and the other 80% will be contributed by the examination, however, the examination papers will count out of 100%.

3) Although your assignment will contribute towards your final examination mark, you do not have to earn credits for admission to the examinations; you are automatically accepted on registering for the exam.

4) Number all the pages of your assignment (e.g. page 1 of 4) and write your name and surname, student number and module at the top of each page.

5) The IMM GSM requires assignments to be presented in a typed format, on plain A4 paper. Unless otherwise specified, this assignment must be completed within a limit of 2500 words, excluding the bibliography. Students who exceed the word limit may find that only part of the submitted assignment will be marked.

6) A separate assignment cover, which is provided by the IMM GSM, must be attached to the front of each assignment.

7) Retain a copy of each assignment before submitting, in case the original does not reach the IMM GSM.

8) The assignment due date refers to the day up to which assignments will be accepted for marking purposes. The deadline is 3:00 p.m. on 19 August 2014. Late assignments will be accepted, but 25 marks will be deducted from the maximum mark if received after 3:00 p.m. on 19 August 2014 and up to 5:00 p.m. the following day, after which no assignments will be accepted.

9) If you fail to follow these instructions carefully, the IMM Graduate School of Marketing cannot accept responsibility for the return of the assignment. It may even result in your assignment not being marked.

Results will be available on the IMM GSM website, www.immgsm.ac.za, on Friday, 3 October 2014.

http://www.imm.co.za/

Page 2 of 32



SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS

Marks will be awarded for:

Logical argument and sound reasoning

Evidence of independent research (i.e. consulting and using relevant sources of information)

Relevant application of knowledge

Neat presentation and structure. Answer ALL the questions below. ALL questions are to be answered using the attached case study on Teavana. Please note that the answers to the questions below need to be detailed and show that effort and thought has gone into the compilation of each answer. You should also familiarise yourself with the Action Verb list that can be found on the IMM GSM website to ensure you fully understand what is required from each action verb. Prescribed textbook: Keller, K.L., 2013. Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring and Managing Brand Equity. 4th ed. USA: Pearson.

QUESTION 1 [20] Provide strategic comment on the positioning of the Teavana brand. In your answer discuss points of parity and points of difference between the Teavana brand and Starbucks. (Reference: Keller, 2013, Chapter 2) QUESTION 2 [25] Identify all the brand elements used in building the Teavana brand, and assess its ability to contribute to brand equity according to the choice criteria identified by Keller. (Reference: Keller, 2013, Chapter 4) QUESTION 3 [20] 3.1 How does Teavana leverage secondary associations? (4) 3.2 Describe the ways in which Teavana could more effectively leverage

secondary brand associations. (16) (Reference: Keller, 2013, Chapter 7)

Page 3 of 32



QUESTION 4 [25] Using Teavana as a brand discuss the brand resonance pyramid, including the sub-dimensions of the brand building blocks, and explain how this brand has used these to build a strong brand. (Reference: Keller, 2013, Chapter 3) PRESENTATION [10]

ASSIGNMENT TOTAL: 100

Page 4 of 32



TEAVANA CASE STUDY

Teavana Nirvana for Starbucks? Source: Brand Autopsy 2012. Is Teavana Nirvana for Starbucks? [Online] Available at:http://www.brandautopsy.com/2012/11/is-teavana-nirvana-for-starbucks.html. [Accessed: 23 April 2014]

Starbucks has purchased Teavana, a 300-unit retail tea brand based in Atlanta, GA for $620 million dollars. My tribal knowledge about Starbucks tells me this acquisition is not a blue ocean sales growth move but rather, a protective competitive move and a surefire growth story to tell Wall Street. In announcing this acquisition, Howard Schultz, Starbucks Ceo and Chairman, said, “We will do for tea what we did for coffee.” From my perspective as a dusty former Starbucks marketer, the acquisition of Teavana is a competitive move designed to protect Starbucks market share in the tea category. Teavana has 300 retail locations, mainly in shopping malls. A good percentage of these mall locations probably compete with a Starbucks nearby. That is bound to cause some competitive hiccups if Starbucks locations start selling Teavana products. Another competitive hiccup is Starbucks now has two tea brands in its portfolio. Both TAZO and Teavana are upscale tea brands competing for the same customer. One of these brands will need to be repositioned as a downscale tea brand in order to create a competitive difference. (Starbucks has experience here with Seattle’s Best Coffee. Since acquiring it in 2003, Starbucks has clearly positioned Seattle’s Best Coffee as a downscale option compared to the Starbucks coffee brand.) Starbucks clearly has cornered the upscale retail tea market. I’m not sure how much revenue it will bring the company. However, I am sure Starbucks will continue to use this acquisition as a growth story for the analysts working on Wall Street. Almost every move Starbucks makes these days from its acquisition of Evolution Fresh to its purchase of Bay Bread to the introduction of its Verisimo brewer to its purchase of Teavana can be viewed less as a surefire sales growth opportunity and more as a surefire growth story to tell Wall Street in order to keep the Starbucks stock price trending upward. Every publicly traded company plays two games. One game is to please customers. The other game is to excite Wall Street. With the acquisition of Teavana, Starbucks is playing the game of exciting Wall Street more than pleasing customers.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/starbucks-buying-teavana-eyes-repeat-002318116.html

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/11/14/starbucks-ceo-we-will-for-tea-what-we-did-for-coffee/

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/story/2012-03-18/starbucks-juice-evolution-fresh/53621296/1

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/story/2012-03-18/starbucks-juice-evolution-fresh/53621296/1

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-04/starbucks-acquires-bay-bread-for-100-million-in-cash.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/16/us-starbucks-brewer-idUSBRE89F06320121016

Page 5 of 32



Teavana the brand

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teavana and www.teavana.com. [Accessed: 1 March 2014]

Page 6 of 32



Tea types

Teavana offers teas and herbal infusions, with categories such as: white, green, flavored & scented green, "blooming" white, black, flavored & scented black, oolong, and pu-erh teas along with rooibos, tisanes, and Yerba Maté infusions. Teavana retail stores generally offer various blends of each type of tea, and consistently promote cross blending different types of tea.

Tea products In addition to tea, Teavana sells tea products, including cast iron tetsubin teapots, decorative teapots, Asian-inspired teapots and cups, tea kettles, various Japanese hot water dispensers and electric tea makers (produced mostly by Zojirushi), tea measures, tea infusion and steeping wares, honey, world music, and Asian books. Teavana also markets rock sugar sourced from Germany.

Stores Teavana retail stores are usually located in upscale shopping malls and designed to be "part tea bar, part tea emporium."[9] Individual cups of tea to go are offered for sale, and the retail locations offer free samples of various tea blends and tea varieties at their front door and within the store. Asian and other cultural music is often played in the background. Teavana currently has over 330 stores.

Teavana in Nashville, Tennessee

Competitors Apart from generic tea brands (such as Lipton, Red Rose and Tetley), Teavana's competitors include Nuovo Tea, Tazo (another Starbucks acquisition), Stash and Sea at Tea.

Starbucks debuts Teavana bar, and it's a doozy Source: Horowitz, B., 2013. Starbuck debuts Teavana bar, and it’s a doozy. USA Today. [Online] Available at: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/10/23/starbucks-teavana-fast-food-tea-tea-houses/3146149/. [Accessed: 3 March 2014]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_tea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_tea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_tea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oolong_tea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu-erh_tea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooibos_tea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tisane

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mat%C3%A9_tea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teapots

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zojirushi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_music

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_sugar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teavana#cite_note-9

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_sample

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Teavana_Nashville.jpg

Page 7 of 32



Can Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz do the same thing for tea, with Teavana, that he did for coffee with Starbucks? He thinks he can and the first Teavana tea bar opens Thursday in Manhattan.

Photo: Starbucks You can get a cup of tea at a Starbucks, but you can't get a cup of coffee at the chain's first teahouse, Teavana Fine Teas + Tea Bar that opens on Thursday in Manhattan. That's how serious Starbucks is about selling lots of fancy tea at the chichi teahouse strategically located on the city's Upper East Side. It's very appropriately near a Lululemon and Dean & DeLuca. The difference between a Starbucks coffee shop and a Teavana teahouse "is like night and day," says Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, in a phone interview. "It's much more zen-like than anything you'll find in a Starbucks store."

The store, with fashionably-gray walls, light wood and museum-esque lighting, looks very different from Starbucks, and it has no Starbucks branding. The most striking visual feature in the store is the Teavana "Wall of Tea" with a range of loose-leaf teas and tea blends. For Starbucks, it's a high-profile baby step into the $90 billion global tea market. The only thing that people globally drink more of than tea is water. Even as Starbucks puts the brakes on new, domestic coffee shops, it can accelerate on teahouses. Starbucks hopes to open at least 1,000 more of its own Teavana bars (different than the retail shops currently open in many shopping malls) in North America and many

Page 8 of 32



more outside the U.S. Over the next five to 10 years, projects Schultz, "We'll do for tea what we've done for coffee." It won't be easy. And it's a bit pricier than Starbucks. The priciest salad sells for $14.95 and a 16-ounce specialty tea latte fetches $5.95. A raspberry and apricot cream scone goes for $3.75. "It's doable, but it will be a hard slog," says Allen Adamson, managing director at Landor Associates. "But the idea of starting fresh is smart. It's hard to find a quiet place to hang out in a Starbucks. This feels softer and less bustling." Unlike Starbucks, where the culture is more about drinks-on-the-go, at Teavana, the aura, design and mood is all about lingering. The contemporary-designed chairs are padded and comfy. The lighting is low. And the sheer variety of teas and munchies seems to require time to sit and savor. "When you walk in, you see a shrine to tea," says Schultz. "The store demonstrates our knowledge of tea and romances the theater of tea with a visual experience." Starbucks is no stranger to tea. Starbucks was founded as Starbucks Coffee, Tea and Spices. But coffee became dominant and tea accounted for less than 1% of sales for years, says Schultz. That's changing. Ultimately, he expects Teavana to be sold in some Starbucks locations. What does Schultz sip? He says he drinks Moroccan Mint Teavana tea at night, "but nothing will replace my (Starbucks) French press Aged Sumatra in the morning."

Page 9 of 32



Teavana Tea Bar launch graphic design elements Source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Teavana-Tea-Bar-launch/14352043. [Accessed: 23 April 2014]

Page 10 of 32



Page 11 of 32



Page 12 of 32



Page 13 of 32



TEAVANA AD campaign

Source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/TEAVANA-Ad-Campaign/10948463. [Accessed: 23 April 2014]

Page 14 of 32



Page 15 of 32



Page 16 of 32



Page 17 of 32



Page 18 of 32



Company Analysis of Teavana: how is social media conducted and how could Teavana social media campaigns be improved?

Source: Ellen Eldridge. 2013. [Online] Available at: elleneldridge.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/.../social-media-teavana.pdf. [Accessed: 23 April 2014]

“Introduction Teavana started as a mom and pop operation in Buckhead, Ga., in 1997 when Andrew Mack and his wife Nancy put their life savings into the company originally called Elephant Tea Co, according to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution by Greg Bluestein. After traveling overseas, Andrew Mack came back to Atlanta feverishly trying to capture that sense of culture and ritual. The Macks wanted to sell the “ritual of tea” more than they wanted to sell customers a beverage, and this factored in to changing the company’s name to Teavana in the early 2000s (Bluestein, 2012). According to Feldman (2011), since 2006, Teavana watched its sales grow 73% to $125 million, registered for an IPO and went public in July 2011. By the end of 2013, Teavana accepted a $620 million offer from Starbucks, the company presently in control of the brand Teavana. Target Market According to a Teavana Case Study (2008), Teavana’s target market is mainly 30 to 55-year-old women who frequent malls. The company founder also felt strongly about not using traditional advertising (Teavana Case Study, 2008; Bluestein, 2012). Through relying heavily on in-store tasting and décor, the brand trusts word of mouth to reach the growing tea market in the United States. Now that Starbucks owns Teavana, many of the same target markets will cross over, but Teavana’s separate identity is seen through its separate corporate and social media websites. The tea bars that have started opening imply a trend toward reaching more people and growing the tea culture among caffeine drinkers. I glean this insight from the fact that Starbucks bought Teavana as well as from the research. Current Social Media Platforms Corporate Website The Teavana home page is very eye-catching and visually appealing, as the brand

has always desired to maintain a rich experience, bringing the culture to customers

and not focusing merely on a product. Above the fold, the home page shows a

sliding gallery with four main images. As of December 3, 2013, the home page

shows a build a tea gift banner where customers can click to find more information

Page 19 of 32



on designing the perfect holiday gift, the most popular gift ideas link shown below,

the 2013 recognition by Oprah Winfrey (Oprah’s Favourite Things), and the last

gallery image/link announces a free sample promotion where every order placed

includes a free sample of another tea.

I wasn’t sure the colourful types of tea along the top were hyperlinks until I tried them, but they do link to descriptions of each type of tea along with featured products—within two clicks from the Teavana.com website and a customer can place an order. I love the next level headings too and find that the Teavana corporate website contains just about anything I could think a visitor would want. Someone who comes looking to learn about tea will quickly be drawn to the “New to Tea” tab, which links to a blog post with article titles listed along the right column that visitors may be more interested in (like “About Teavana” and “Tea Gift Center” for those who may have just been looking for a gift for a friend or family member). The sub-heading from the home page for “Tea Gifts” is also easy to navigate and very user-friendly. The options to “shop by experience,” “shop by price,” as well as a Tea of the Month club and “gifts with meaning” section instantly let visitors know where to head. Someone who wanted to learn about tea for personal consumption or someone looking for a gift could spend quite a bit of time checking out the options. The online store makes purchase decisions low-pressure as well.

Below the fold on the corporate website is where the links to social media and

smaller links to articles and information exist. The first link in the social media row is

for the company newsletter, which I signed up for in September when I chose this

company for analysis. The positioning of the newsletter link and the fact that all the

social media links are below the fold and gray makes me think the social aspect is

one the company wants to downplay. This idea goes along with information in the

2008 Teavana Case Study referenced in the target market section of this report—

that Mack wanted to control his company and avoid outside advertising. Social

media is by no means ignored, but Teavana’s placement betrays the company’s first

interest to sell a tea culture and experience to its customers.

Page 20 of 32



Blog The Teavana blog is called “Heaven of Tea Blog” and is located at www.blog.teavana.com. I didn’t see a link directly from the main corporate website to the Heaven of Tea Blog, and the link back to the main Teavana website from the Blog is a tiny link on the lower left hand column under the list of recent posts. The blog genuinely feels like it exists for the customer or information-seeker’s benefit. The Blog home page has a darker purple-red background behind the same logo. The blog section below has a white background, but in going from the corporate site to the blog, a deeper colour makes a darker impression. The colour scheme on the blog is different as well. Where the main site has an almost pastel feel to it, the blog seems bolder and doesn’t blend as aesthetically. Content-wise, the blog can’t be beat, though, and the admins post a new article about once a week, including a category for videos (the last of which was about Iced Tea posted in August, and I double-checked the corporate site and all links in this report December 3, 2013).

Another big difference from the blog is the positioning of the social media links – the

icons for Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter and Pinterest are on the top right, where

visitors usually find social media links (at least in my experience).

http://www.blog.teavana.com/

http://www.blog.teavana.com/

Page 21 of 32



Facebook

As of October 19, 2013, (shown above) the Facebook Page for Teavana had 296,954 likes and 5,289 people engaging as determined by “people talking about this.” The apps boxes show the photos posted on the Facebook Page, a link to customer service that doesn’t actually work, a link to available jobs powered by Jobvite and a Pinterest link. I cross-referenced against Starbucks’ Facebook Page out of curiosity and found that Starbucks added an International locations app, but kept Pinterest in the top row of apps and placed open jobs in the second row, which visitors have to click to see. According to White (2012) in an article on NBC News, 40 percent of all social media-driven purchases come from Pinterest and 40 percent of users have annual household incomes between $50,000 and $100,000. With data like that, having the app driving from Facebook to Pinterest makes sense. When I re-checked the Teavana Facebook Page on December 3, 2013, (shown

below) the Page had increased in both number of likes (312,438) as well as engaged

fans (7,165 “talking about this).

Page 22 of 32



Teavana also updated its cover photo from the fall cinnamon stick and pumpkin image to the crisp peppermint and chocolate image for the holiday season. The soft snowflake image keeps a traditional scene without claiming Christmas of any particular holiday, which is a wise move in my opinion because “tea culture” across the world has little to do with varying holiday rituals or customs. The posts with the most shares are for good deals including the posts about free tin and free sample with an order for Cyber Weekend. The November 29 post specifically about a free tin had 231 shares as of December 3, and the November 30 post about a free Mosaic tumbler only saw 14 shares. This could have been timing and holiday related, but the posts both had images and were posted within a day so my feeling is that the loyal Teavana fans want to share the best deals (the mosaic really isn’t that attractive). Teavana also has a lot of customer complaints on its Facebook, which it handles personally and as discretely as possible. Some of the Cyber Monday customer complained about not receiving advertised discounts and others complained about being charged twice. Teavana responded quickly and the screen shot to the left shows that Teavana responded personally to confirm if the problem was with redeeming two discounts at once or to provide reassurance that the orders will be honoured. Teavana posts responses within hours to upset customers.

Page 23 of 32



Twitter Teavana surprisingly makes little use of hashtags on Twitter, with most of November going by with a mere handful, if that. Way back in May, a promotion using TeavanaMOMent occurred with moderate success, but very little use of hashtags has been made. #Perfect was used a bit earlier in the year, but wasn’t kept up with. #BlackFriday and #CyberMonday hashtags were used late in November. I saw #Teavana once and twice I caught a promotion with American Express using the hashtag #AmerTeavana. The Klout score for Teavana was 80 as of December 3, 2013, and the hashtag-using tweet or AmerTeavana from October 29 was retweeted more than 250 times, which earned the post mention on Klout’s Top Moments. What Teavana does on Twitter it does well, and that’s the consumer-generated content of tweeted pictures of cups of Teavana. When a follower tweets a picture of a cup of tea he or she could win their “perfect” cup.

Page 24 of 32



Google Plus Teavana has a presence on Google plus, but that’s about it. The company has approximately 4,400 plus ones and posts between two to five times a month. In October, when Teavana opened its first tea bar in New York City, the Google Plus page was only updated four times! Pinterest Pinterest is prominently displayed on the brand’s Facebook Page, but the Pinterest Page itself has only 13,734 followers. Compared to its Facebook fans, less than ten percent have followed to Pinterest. The brand boasts 31 boards, 539 pins and 35 likes as of December 3, 2013. During the summer, Teavana offered a “Pin It to Win It” contest, which encouraged

both interaction and product awareness. The game encouraged pinners to create

boards of Teavana products they’d want to win, with one winner to win up to $500

worth of pinned products. Teavana did not repeat the promotion for fall, but does a

decent job of including video content fro YouTube, blog content and products from

the corporate website into its “Spice of Autumn” Board (hidden toward the bottom).

The “Now Steeping” Board has the most pins (48), but just about as many followers

as my favourite board: the “Tea Inspiration” board that has 15 pins and 10, 904

followers. The “What’s In Your Cup” Board is mostly content generated from Twitter

and the contest for consumer generated content. This board shows pins from Twitter

and Instagram, with 10,866 followers.

Page 25 of 32



The engagement is the key and I think more promotions like the summer pin it to win

it board would help drive traffic to and from the website as well as drive customer

interest in Teavana products. The only reason I can think of not to do it is cost, but I

would assume the brand awareness and advertising would be worth it. Perhaps

Teavana will try it annually.

YouTube Teavana created a YouTube channel in May 2008, and as of December 3 has 3, 527 subscribers with 562,955 views. Most of the content is recipe and product gift ideas. The single video with the highest view count is the one titled “Teavana: A Heaven of Tea.” Instagram/Flickr Instagram for Teavana has 7,791 followers and 112 posts, so the brand may be

more interested in driving business to its Pinterest (again as implied by the app on its

Facebook Page) because of reports from Forbes and other business mediums

indicating that Pinterest has the power to drive sales. All I found for Flickr presence

was a collection of photos from the October tea bar opening in New York City.

LinkedIn Teavana has a corporate Page on LinkedIn with 4,642 followers and a list of open career positions, but neither the Home tab nor the Insights tab says anything the corporate culture, what it’s like to work for Teavana or what qualities the company wants in interested employees. Even the Products tab is empty, which wastes a perfect opportunity for the company to link back to its corporate website or highlight features products.

Page 26 of 32



Where Teavana Should be Socially Social Media Not Being Used Tumblr was the first place I checked for a Teavana presence and found nothing official (well, maybe Flickr counts too). Tumblr has a young audience, so I wasn’t too surprised to find that Teavana references on Twitter came mostly from employees and customers. Some positive sentiment, including a post by an employee who was proud to have been recently promoted, but a large amount of negative sentiment—especially from current and former employees.

In the News The company’s best news lies in the announcement to open the first Teavana tea bar in New York City on October 24, 2013. According to an article written by Tara Steele of The American Genius, this tea bar is the first of many tea bars to complement the Starbucks brand, and this further answers the market’s growing demand for tea in America, which has grown 16 percent in the last five years. CEO Howard Schultz (pictured above) is quoted in the article: “As the second most-consumed global beverage behind water, tea presents a $90 billion global market opportunity, and we are excited to celebrate the first retail example of how our two companies are coming together.” While the good news for the Teavana company lies in its expansion and the newly opening tea bars, the bad news appears in blogs like the April 2013, report claiming Teavana customers need to be warned about “possible credit and debit card breach.” Not that Teavana should be blamed if confirmation comes that software designed to steal customers’ information existed at Teavana locations, but the news is damaging to the brand regardless. I know I will think twice about swiping my credit card anywhere in a mall.

Page 27 of 32



Consumer Voices The Internet has examples of customer websites, forums and customer created

content for and against Teavana, but largely against and this is something the

company can best combat with increased social media presence and promotions

aimed at connecting and engaging with people. One example that crosses over from

consumer to news is the complaint of many that Teavana tricks its customers. An

article written by Gitte Laasby February 15, 2013, called “Teavana’s dirty secret:

Why the tea you brew doesn’t taste like the store samples” shows the sentiment that

Teavana doesn’t explain well enough the amount needed to brew a cup of tea at

home, one teaspoon, to taste like the store brew, which uses closer to six teaspoons.

This article is further documented in the news on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/Ai07PoXIIfc. The Laasby article sounds reminiscent of an older post

whose author, Russ Starke, wrote a blog column tagged “Doesn’t Get It” on

September 28, 2010, after his wife had a bad experience with pushy Teavana

salespeople not listening to her desire to buy a small gift for less than $10. An

impressed Teavana consumer put together a compelling photo story via Storify that

reviews the store in the Prudential Center (Boston) as well decorated and staffed

with helpful employees who offer discounts in store that aren’t well advertised. She

writes that Teavana’s way isn’t the “typical way to frame consumption” and further

writes, “when the employee from Teavana tried to sell me another tea and

mentioned last minute it was 50% off, if I had bought that tea it would have been an

impulse buy because of the deal he was offering me.”

I found a Facebook Page launched June 6, 2012, though Facebook says it “joined Facebook” in February. The Page is dedicated to creating Teavana Memes, with an “About Me” section that says “A place for your TEAVANA MEMES. Hand crafted parodies brought to you by the Team Members, Baristas, Teaologists, and Tea fanciers of the world. (IN NO WAY SPONSORED BY OR ASSOCIATED WITH STARBUCKS!)”

http://youtu.be/Ai07PoXIIfc

Page 28 of 32



The Page is not updated often, but does act as more than the employee joke page of its earliest posts because on October 10, 2013, the Page links to an article called “What’s really in your tea” with a picture of several tea brands including Teavana, quoting in the Facebook post that Monkey Picked Oolong tea contains 23 pesticides. Most of the eight comments talk about the report as outdated or used to deflate stock prices last December when Starbucks bought Teavana, but one employee (Shelby Splatterpunk) admits she was “bothered” when her boss told her to tell customers the tea is EU organic. Further digging on the Page shows that Teavana employees or sympathizers are in control because some of the memes make fun of customers and one post from May 21 quotes an “employee on the East coast” as complaining about not receiving a raise after two and a half years employment. A blog called “We Hate Teavana7” exists on Tumblr that commiserates the sentiment mentioned earlier about former employees and the younger audiences on Tumblr. These are the consumers who may grow up with a bad taste for Teavana as they graduate college and enter the brand’s target market.

Fall Social Media Campaign I signed up for the Teavana company newsletter in September, and felt excited that the point would be more brand awareness and informative when one of the first emails contained tips on loose leaf tea. Later emails focused on specials and teas of the week (which were also informative and did provide awareness).

Page 29 of 32



Teavana took a page from Starbucks on many of its fall campaigns, but added a brand twist to maintain the identity of Teavana within the Starbucks brand. “A Pumpkin All Our Own” creates an image that is very in-‐ line with how Teavana is representing a distinct segment of the coffee/tea culture. Though customers who drink coffee (especially in America) often drink tea, Teavana and Starbucks intend to keep the identities of each. The fall campaign sent the following image as an email in the newsletter:

Gift Set that Teavana is marketing for the end-of-year holidays. On October 22, I received the email that linked to the page on the company website with information about a set with 12 teas. Just below the fold is a review snapshot with only two scathing reviews. If I had any thought of purchasing this set for myself or anyone else, the reviews would instantly change my mind because even if they are offbase or a matter of opinion, I wouldn’t risk it! It made me laugh that the company didn’t take down the review section as it is on the Teavana website:

Page 30 of 32



Social Media Strengths The visual aesthetic on the corporate website is the single strength that most stocks out in my mind. The company may well have a great product (I’ve never tried it) and Teavana does a good job capturing the loose leaf tea with professional photography. The Twitter cup picture contest is a strength that carries over into Pinterest and a bit into Instagram. Teavana should continue the contest and engage its customers, but more can be done with the customer-driven content (see suggestions section below). Social Media Weaknesses Teavana only went public in 2011 and was acquired by Starbucks one year ago this month (December 2013), so the weakness across its social media falls to the weakness that it is still growing tremendously. The fact that the tea market in the United States is growing and expected to grow more means that going after younger audiences even though they aren’t the target market is crucial to continued success. The fact that so many negative websites and blog posts exist criticizing not only the product but also the people of Teavana has to be its biggest weakness. This is more of an external weakness that the brand cannot necessarily control, but by increasing social media presence and attempting to better connect and engage the company can turn its negative aspects around. I have not personally tried Teavana tea, and before this fall I had not even heard of Teavana. I enjoy tea, but I generally like it for its health benefits and calming features; I generally prefer and seek coffee for my energy boosts. I believe Teavana had an unconscious chance to win me as a customer because I did this project, but

Page 31 of 32



the negative sentiment has put a bad taste in my mouth. Some of the first things I read about the company were reviews and blog posts about how pushy the salespeople are. I don’t generally shop in malls and I certainly don’t like feeling pressured into anything if I wanted to try it out. Teavana markets largely to customers who have yet to try its product. This can be assumed by the simple fact that the stores openly offer samples of the tea— because people haven’t had it. Because I never tasted the tea and the negative things I read make me hesitant I’ll likely find other options. Teavana’s largest weakness is if it does in fact fail to recognize that its employees are its most valuable asset. Suggestions for Overall Improvement The first thing I thought when I saw the Twitter cup picture contest was that was a great idea and a perfect way to let the product sell itself, but when I realized that Teavana’s Twitter is a one-man show I felt disappointed. I believe that Teavana should use the contest idea to generate more content, but change the game a bit. The posts thanking followers for playing uses the exact phrasing currently as it did last December! In creating this social media analysis, I had every intention of taking my would-be suggestions to improve Teavana’s brand to a local competitor that hired me in September 2013. I recommended and implemented a creative contest where followers or fans were encouraged to upload pictures of their paintings or drawings (even crafts) that have to do with tea. I decided on the hashtag CreativiTEA as an easy-to-remember brand specifically for use on Twitter. Getting customers excited about their own creations works because followers of Teavana creatively photograph their cups of tea for the contest Teavana runs. The rules don’t specifically state anything about composition, but in the increasingly visual world of social media the content that catches the eye will help brands raise awareness. I really liked one particular cup of tea resting on a windowsill that showed a snowy landscape outside the window and believe when tea drinkers are rewarded further for their art as well as their love of tea the brand extends its value and customer loyalty. Other than my specific idea for a Twitter campaign (that I implemented for Tascia’s Teas), I would strongly recommend that Teavana do its research on new and lesser known social media websites. Tumblr is listed among top social media websites and Teavana has a weak brand image there. LinkedIn should definitely be spruced up to attract employees and show the current employees they work for a company that cares about them. A forum for employees to post, share experiences and feedback with Teavana corporate might go a long way in alleviating the tension. I don’t know with certainty how hard the employees are pushed to make sales for Teavana, but if word of mouth spreads that Teavana underappreciates its employees people could boycott the brand.

Page 32 of 32



Conclusion Teavana does a good job with its social media, and now that Starbucks owns it I believe the weaknesses will be improved and the strengths will increase. Teavana has an opportunity to make an impact with younger generations by branching out and actively listening more across its social media. By pushing too hard, brands lose attention on social media. The Twitter account does the best job of listening, but with the copy and pasted statuses the impression I get is that the company is sticking with what it knows works, without knowing why it works. So much more could be done and my hope is that Teavana succeeds.” Works Cited Feldman, B., 2011. Teavana. [Online] Fortune, 164.3, p.111. Available from: http://www.ebscohost.com/. [Accessed: 19 October 2013] Tea Shopping With No Sympathy. [Online] Multichannel Merchant, 5.5, p.72. Available from: http://www.ebscohost.com/. [Accessed: 19 October 2013] Teavana Case Study: Capitalizing On The Rising Demand For Tea In The US. 2008, pp.1-9. [Online] Available from: http://www.ebscohost.com/. [Accessed: 19 October 2013] Wilson, M., 2003. Reading The Tea Leaves. [Online] Chain Store Age, 79.9, p.48. Available from: http://www.ebscohost.com/. [Accessed: 19 October 2013] White, M., 2012. Pinterest joins ranks of $1 billion-plus tech startups. NBC News. [Online] Available at: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/pinterest-joins-ranks-1-billion-plus-tech-start-ups-777581?franchiseSlug=businessmain. [Accessed: October 28 2013]

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/pinterest-

Documents

ASSIGNMENT 2ND SEMESTER: BRAND MANAGEMENT …imm-gsm.s3.amazonaws.com/2014/Docs/semester2/Assignments 2nd... · Strategic Brand Management: Building, ... Chapter 2) QUESTION 2