I believe the primary target audience for the #whatsyourname campaign is the transgender community. The campaign itself features several different stories from several different people, however their main advert (an award winning audio visual promotion) focuses around a man called James. Each story is portrayed realistically and many trans people agree that the representation is strongly appreciated. Each piece of advertising material features an authentic trans story and Starbucks’ own web article discussing the campaign links to their partnered charity for the promotions (Mermaids) and explains their connection and inclusivity of said organisation. There are no other restrictive factors to their audience as the campaign attempts to set up a self-proclaimed “safe space” for all people who identify as transgender within Starbucks locations and sets a basis of acceptance across all bases. Moreover, in terms of age, a younger adult audience is likely focal as this is the general Starbucks age group thanks to their modernised advertising.
The key message of this campaign is that Starbucks is a place where anyone can be whatever identity they feel and they are not restricted by judgement or what society intends for them. Their materials display many trans stories, all of which focus on the aspect of Starbucks being the first (or one of the first) places in which these people tested their selected names and how they felt valid and accepted in themselves in Starbucks shops. I believe Starbucks promote this so heavily as they want to be viewed as a popular and revolutionary brand, which by comparison to competitors they most certainly are. Despite being the most prominent coffee chain in the UK, contender Costa Coffee have only recently become an openly pro-LGBTQ+ company, even then they have no campaign and have simply released a line of cups with no promotion. Starbucks’ advertising dwarfs Costa’s attempts to do the same.
A definable method of advertising used would be the use of real stories and, for lack of a better term, “case studies”. On their website, Mermaids have a section dedicated to the stories of trans individuals, each including mention of the study Starbucks did in order to produce the campaign in which they asked trans customers for their stories entailing using their names at Starbucks. The brand used these stories as a catalyst of sorts to denote their support of the trans community, allowing actual trans voices to be heard through their campaign. Videos (two examples are here and here) from trans creators on YouTube evidence this as both claim that a realistic representation of a trans experience revolving around a name change, despite their experiences being diverse. There seems to be an overall acceptance of the realistic portrayal of trans life within the community, meaning the campaign struck well with their intended audience
The focal AV advert ("Every Name's a Story") has an individual theme to it, whereas the other AV materials in the campaign follow a typical “interview style” trend. Those in them are depicted as ideal selves – as evident through their use of close ups portraying personalised identifiers such as their jewellery or tattoos – which furthers the connotation that Starbucks is a positive environment as these individuals are denoted as content in their identity and the association with the brand promotes a positive image for them. Furthermore, in their promotions (such as them selling “Mermaid” biscuits) they include the notable iconography of the charity involved, ensuring that it is blatant the cause they are supporting whilst also selling their own products, each serving to boost one another.
Starbucks have posters of these advertisements up in their stores (or at least, they did at the time of the promotion), along with having the product promotion of the Mermaid biscuits they sold. This alone ensures that their promotion is distributed as they are a high street chain, meaning that the campaign is visible in the public eye and is made aware to patrons. Moreover, their AV are all available on video-streaming site Youtube on their UK promotional account, along with being aired pre-watershed on sponsored TV channels. This aspect ensures a mass audience is reached as there are no restrictions in how they are advertised (such as being regarded as “post-watershed material” by ASA) and are promoted on a mass platform that will reach most if not all possible audiences. Thirdly, they also feature promotional material on their website and that of Mermaids, meaning that any more specific and niche audiences visiting such sites (for example, the trans community) are also on the receiving end of the promotions
Starbucks pride themselves on being “LGBTQ+ inclusive for over three decades” and feature a timeline of support on their website, in which they list the earliest date of inclusion as 1988. The earliest mention of support for specifically transgender individuals is in 2006, in which they began a new legislation within their company to support those transitioning, or considering it. Typically depicted as a brand of younger groups, it is unsurprising that they promote themselves in such a PC manner to align with the beliefs and psychographics of this age range. Furthermore, Mermaids, the collaborative charity, was founded in 1995. They have remained in public regard as a reputable charity that represents the trans community well, despite backlash they have faced from anti-trans activists such as Graham Linehan, and advised on transgender-representative drama Butterfly in 2018. With two companies of strong support and representation of the trans community, this is undoubtedly a contribution to the regard and popularity as a campaign #whatsyourname has received
As with a heavy majority of campaigns in the last decade, a good portion of advertising material contributing to the Every Name’s a Story campaign are reliant on technological convergence. For example, much like seen in the CN/Dove campaign, most of the AV materials were produced for digital distribution (and were originally published in such a manner) and only went on to be aired on TV after the fact. This was the best way to target their audience as their audience is made up of a large group of younger age groups, who are digital natives and therefore more savvy with digital interactions and are more likely to be the receivers of digital distribution. Furthermore, viral marketing specifically is also used with the generation of the hashtag #WhatsYourName. Whilst this isn’t a tag that is dedicated directly to the Starbucks campaign a simple scroll through its content on social media provides extreme praise of the advertising, along with people utilising the tag to extend the purpose of the advert and enact “second-hand advertising” by sharing their own experiences with trialling their new names in Starbucks.
A legal issue that would have to be considered by the campaign’s creators would be the consent and release forms of the actors involved. As the roles are of self portrayal it is vital to ensure that full consent for their personal experiences and identities to be revealed to the public as part of the campaign. This is particularly prevalent since the subject matter is quite sensitive and protect of those involved is imperative. Should this fail to be 100% secured the threat of lawsuit for the exposure of personal data is a very real possibility for the brand. Another legality that would have to be addressed would be the collaboration with the Mermaids charity and ensuring that no terms are breached on either side of the agreement. If this agreement wasn’t met to an appropriate standard, either party could cut ties and withdraw from the project. This would mean that all related materials would need to be purged from the public eye. Furthermore, ethical considerations would also have to be taken, especially considering the sensitive content within the campaign. The representation of transgender people within the campaign is vital to public reception and will be necessary to credibility from not only the trans community but also the general public as a result of the reaction of that community. If this reception is negative, then the campaign can be easily disregarded. Finally, as another ethical consideration, a variety of diverse figures should be presented so as to represent the diverse population and audience. Whilst there is a diverse representation in terms of gender, as the very subject requires it, there is little in terms of POC representation within the advertising. This has little to no effect on the overall success of the campaign, however, as it has still been praised by most if not all audiences.
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