Starbucks teams up with Oprah

Published April 1, 2014 at 8:25 am

One important goal that any successful coffee company aims for is to create the perfect blend. This is exactly what Starbucks is looking to accomplish as the company teams up with Oprah to create the new Teavana Oprah Chai Tea. The partnership is a brand-blending effort to promote Starbucks’ chain of tea stores, Teavana.

Starbucks acquired Teavana in 2012 and its target audience for Teavana includes women who are interested in things like yoga, tea and spirituality. This makes Oprah, a major advocate for self-improvement who touts her morning tea ritual as an important part of her day, a great brand personality to pair up with.

Oprah’s talk show may be off the air but is still very well known. Although she is known for promoting and making endorsements on her show, this partnership is a first for Oprah in officially aligning with another brand. Over her career, Oprah has managed to extend her brand into many different areas, including her own television network, magazine, and as a result has managed to build a very successful empire.

Both brands aim for a perfect blend. Starbucks and Oprah are aligning to create high-quality tea, aiming to promote luxury that can be attained, for a target audience that has doesn’t have a lot of disposable income. Additionally, there is a charitable component to the product. For every cup sold, Starbucks makes a donation to Oprah’s Leadership Academy Foundation.

We recently discussed when it’s the right time to expand, and Starbucks and Oprah give a good example of two powerful brands coming together to accomplish this. People love a good cause, making charity another smart promotion strategy for this product. The new tea will be available starting April 29.