Starbucks racial bias training

Starbucks is the world’s largest coffee company and coffeehouse chain with more than 28,000 retail stores in 77 countries.

Starbucks is also a model to follow when it comes to the importance of a good communication strategy that relies on a sound marketing plan deployed to all its locations.

Starbucks’ main outreach strategy has remained unchanged since its beginnings in 1971: relying on public relations to build a brand and make headlines.

Starbucks recently produced a masterstroke of public relations when on May 17 it announced, after a video showing the arrest of two young black men at one of its stores went viral, that it would provide racial bias training to its 175,000 employees on May 29.

The announcement by Starbucks executive Kevin Johnson has been written about extensively and we predict that major media around the world will be on high alert that day.

When a crisis is handled quickly and the company offers practical solutions to address a problem, consumers see more than just a simple public relations strategy: they can sense that inside the company there is genuine interest in the well-being of all.