Last Tuesday Starbucks closed nearly 7,100 company-operated stores in the U.S. to conduct a nationwide 3 hour education event with it's 135,000 employees. The event was designed to 'energize' staff in an effort to 'transform the customer experience'. Read their press release here.
Howard Schultz, Starbucks chairman, president and ceo said “Our unprecedented level of commitment to and investment in our people will provide them with the tools and resources they need to exceed the expectations of our customers. We believe that this is a bold demonstration of our commitment to our core and a reaffirmation of our coffee leadership.”
The logistics of providing such training and co-ordinating an instore effort for such a large number of stores and employees is mind boggling. We wonder how they made sure the right message was delivered to it's employees, and how it will translate into better coffee and better service - quite a task!
If nothing else, the gesture has received a considerable amount of media coverage. As noted by Catching Flack, this 'event' has translated into a pretty darn good publicity tactic.
Tracking the media, monitoring the message
