Extended Essays 2021

Communications Mix- Public Relations

The communications mix incorporates the tools used to communicate with potential customers. Four of the

aspects of the communications mix are covered in the International B accalaureate syllabus’ marketing mix:

advertising, direct marketing, personal selling and sales promotion. Public relations however is an additional

element of Starbucks marketing strategy that should be considered. Public relations involve managing and

guiding the perceptions of a business to maintain and attract customers 21 . Starbucks has recently begun

venturing into social-media-marketing, however, at the time of its expansion into Australia, this was not

employed. Social media is a key factor in public relations as it is important to preserve a brand’s image.

Starbucks’ lack of control of its media representation during the time of its expansion led to many negative

reviews and controversies that tainted store reputations. One of these controversies that hindered Starbucks’

succe ss in Australia was the “the way I see it” cup design displaying quotes of various political messages.

Starbucks received a lot of backlash for this cup design, for example people thought a quote on a cup ‘ pushed

a homosexuality agenda ’ 22 . Pushing political messages was likely a crucial error from Starbucks as it polarises

customers and leads to a loss of sales. After this loss in sales, Starbucks removed all posters and cups with

political messages . Starbucks’ poor management of its public relations department damaged Australian

consumers perception of the brand, contributing to its failure in Australia.

21 Qld.gov.au. (2017). Public relations | Business Queensland . [online] Available at: https://www.business.qld.gov.au/running-business/marketing-sales/marketing- promotion/pr [Accessed 18 Jul. 2021]. 22 Tullo, D. (2016). 7 Most Controversial Starbucks Cups of All Time . [online] Cosmopolitan. Available at: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/food- cocktails/a8372723/most-controversial-starbucks-cups-of-all-time/ [Accessed 17 Jul. 2021].

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