The recent fascination coffee giant Starbucks (SBUX) has shown in becoming a “third place” is starting to spread, and Starbucks’ marketing is focusing on this initiative as well. A recently released animated ad focuses on togetherness, and helps drive Starbucks’ “Back to Starbucks” initiative. As it turns out, it caught shareholders’ attention too, as shares were up nearly 3.5% in Friday afternoon’s trading.
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The ad is surprisingly simple, surprisingly clever, and seems to be catching on. It features two characters who have been drawn onto the side of cups—seeming to reflect Starbucks’ resurgent cup writing doctrines—and who subsequently travel before finding an “emotional spark” when they get together. The tagline “Together is the best place to be” closes the ad.
The ad campaign itself is called “Drawn Together”, which might have been an unfortunate choice given that this is the same name of a deliberately controversial Comedy Central series from 2004. But, as global chief brand officer Tressie Lieberman noted, “We’ve woven together elements that are unique to Starbucks — from the cozy coffeehouse atmosphere to the hand-drawn illustrations that animate on our iconic holiday cups.”
Cup Sell-Out Sparks Frustration
Recently, we found out about Starbucks’ planned release of some new tumblers. A different tumbler, the Bearista Cold Cup, managed to make a stir of its own as it proved a little too popular for Starbucks’ good. It released on November 6, and sold out rapidly, prompting some to cry foul over the lack of availability. In fact, at some locations, reports noted that employees were buying the cups themselves, likely for resale on secondary markets.
Starbucks, for its part, took the loss that the huge win paradoxically created, apologizing to customers for the shortages, and made it clear that its holiday lineup would have a lot more than just the Bearista cup to enjoy.
Is Starbucks Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on SBUX stock based on 13 Buys, seven Holds and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 15.72% loss in its share price over the past year, the average SBUX price target of $96.11 per share implies 13.35% upside potential.
