Starbuck's Good Neighbor Program
Starbucks needed to enhance a customer's experience within their retail stores, improve same store sales, and ultimately return Starbucks to the healthy margins expected by their investors. Our research revealed that the recent overhaul of Starbucks’ rewards card program and the introduction of free wifi alienated the company’s most loyal customers. Our resulting design proposals were motivated by the need to reconnect these customers with the community and culture that had initially attracted them to the brand. The Good Neighbors Program is a Foursquare-integrated mobile platform that enables charitable giving and rewards social interaction. It is an opt-in program that asks customers to donate an extra 5¢ per food/drink purchase to fair trade farmers in exchange for the chance to win valuable prizes and access to exclusive Foursquare badges. Unlike existing Foursquare promotions that ask customers to simply “show up,” customers’ access to Good Neighbor badges relies upon sustainable behaviors. Good Neighbors is a service that unites the disparate parts of Starbucks’ existing competencies, partnerships and shifting customer needs while reinforcing the existing culture and meeting stakeholders’ demands.