Starbucks Targets Folks Who Shun Starbucks

Seattle’s Best coffee was acquired by Starbuck’s Coffee giant in 2001. Since then, Seattle’s Best hasn’t really been the best at anything. The small coffee company hasn’t really progressed in sales or market position since its acquisition by Starbucks. However, that’s all changing. Starbuck’s Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz has charged brand manager and global strategy chief Michelle Gass to remake Seattle’s Best coffee and reach a billion dollars sales target. While that goal remains far away, Gass has made major progress in repositioning Seattle’s Best in the market. As the new President of Seattle’s Best, Gass markets her coffee to customers who hate Starbucks big corporate feel and would rather settle for a no name type of coffee. It seems to be working. Gass has put her coffee in 300 AMC cinemas, aboard Delta Air Lines planes, and in Subway, Burger King, and Royal Caribbean Cruises. It’s also being distributed in vending machines at offices, hospitals and college campuses worldwide. Gass’s prime targets to sell Seattle’s Best coffee to are mass retailers and convenience, drug, and grocery stores, as well as mom-and-pop businesses. Gass has also recreated the Seattle’s Best packaging scheme. The packaging design is now color-coded and numbered 1 through 5. 1 is the mildest coffee for casual drinkers while number 5 is a dark roast for more hardcore coffee drinkers. In order for Seattle’s Best to compete with their big sister Starbucks, Gass feels that she must scale up production and marketing. Gass says that “With our big sister upstairs who owns coffee, the only way we have a chance to get a piece of that is to be disruptive”. While Schultz’s 1 billion dollar revenue goal is still far away, Gass’s disruptive Seattle’s Best is starting to truly attract customers of the coffee industry