Starbucks met with enormous early success by focusing not just on coffee but on the coffee-drinking experience. The company has since taken a bumpy ride from boom to bust and back to boom again. Along the way, it learned that a good marketing strategy means more than just growth, sales, and profits. It means skilfully engaging customers and creating value for them. At its core, Starbucks doesn't sell just coffee, it sells "The Starbucks Experience." After a period of frantic growth, Starbucks refocused on the "experience" and is once again fully engaged with customers. Starbucks has built customer engagement and brand community through digital and mobile platforms. It delivers the one-of-a-kind Starbucks Experience and, as a result of good performance on this objective, revenues and profits have shot up.

1. What is Starbucks really selling?

2. What are customers really buying?

3. How and how deeply do customers relate to the Starbucks brand?