Competition is the modern slogan in business. Companies are striving to establish themselves as brands to reckon with in their specified fields. Company branding is characterized advertisements on radio, televisions, magazines and newspapers as well as a company’s annual report. Media, known for its wide coverage, is preferred by most companies in an effort to reach consumers from all walks of life in order to increase the customer base hence company’s profits. Besides advertisements, companies may also tell their stories as well as intended strategies to consumers through interviews with renowned media houses. Therefore, concepts relating to persuasion, information and positioning are key to both companies and media houses. This paper will address a live news story with hyperlinks to credible sources to be featured in a company website as well as the relevance of the news story.
Demand for what you pay for at Starbucks. Starbucks is known for selling beverages to consumers in USA as well as other countries where it has established branches. In response to a lawsuit filed by Stacy Pincus, a consumer from Illinois at the US District court for the Northern District of Illinois on 2nd May 2016, Stacy claims that Starbucks is duping customers by selling to them iced coffee containing lots of ice with less coffee. A similar case was reported in California where two consumers filed a lawsuit against Starbucks for under filling lattes (Larimer, 2016). In response to the above claims, the company developed strategies to curb such incidences.
First, a list of the company’s products has been made available on its website, thus easily accessible to consumers ("Starbucks – The Best Coffee and Espresso Drinks", 2016). Secondly, consumers are urged to use specific names of specific products to avoid confusion in orders. Starbucks has established measures to carter for consumers with diabetes and those with special cases. Consumers are also urged to use the Starbucks’ social media sites, suggestion boxes, phone app as well as mails and calls for suggestions or complaints. Lastly, the company will incur losses arising from the company as well as implementing proposed suggestions.
The story is newsworthy as it informative to the public of the company’s progress, the quality of its products as well as the company’s channels of communication in relation to customers. In relation to Starbucks, the story will lead to the development of new ways of promoting quality as well as customer service to avoid damaging its image.
In summary, companies should acknowledge that despite the media being lucrative to branding, it can also damage to a company’s reputation. Therefore, they should be aware of their dealings to avoid negative publicity which can be result in major losses in terms of customers and company profits. Therefore, the use of media should be approached with caution.
References
Larimer, s. (2016). Starbucks iced coffee contains too much ice not enough coffee lawsuit claims. Washington Post.
Starbucks – The Best Coffee and Espresso Drinks. (2016). Starbucks Coffee Company. Retrieved 5 June 2016, from http://www.starbucks.com/
