Starbucks almost doubles marketing spend to ‘restore confidence’ in the brand

Starbucks is “close to doubling” its marketing spend as a percentage of revenue, as the coffee chain focuses on “getting back” to what “sets [it] apart” as a brand under the leadership of its new CEO.

Brian Niccol, who took the top job back in September, has pledged to “re-introduce” the brand to the world as a priority in his role.

“Over the past four months, we’ve been focused on getting back to Starbucks and those things that have always set us apart: a welcoming coffee house where people gather and where we serve the finest coffee handcrafted by our skilled baristas,” he told investors yesterday (28 January).