In its fiscal year ending in September 2019, Starbucks spent 245.7 million U.S. dollars on advertising. This figure represents a decrease in global advertising investments compared to previous year – in 2018 the coffee chain spent close to 15 million dollars more on promoting its products and services. On a global scale, in 2018 the Starbucks brand was valued at 32.42 billion U.S dollars.

Starbucks in the United States

  In the United States, Starbucks is not the biggest fish among other restaurant brands in terms of advertising. In 2018 it ranked at number 9, with 79 million dollars in measured media spending. Ahead of Starbucks was its closest competitor, Dunkin’ Donuts, with double the amount in ad spend. In contrast to media spending, Starbucks is ahead of Dunkin’ Donuts when it comes to ground coffee sales in the United States. In 2018 Starbucks earned nearly twice as much as its competitor in this regard and ranked third among other coffee brands. The coffee chain also enjoys a healthy score on the American customer satisfaction index. However, this was not the case in 2015 when satisfaction levels dropped significantly and the company had to address customer issues with the brand’s menu. Since then Starbucks has returned to customers’ good graces, which undoubtably led to its strong position among other restaurants.