It happened like this: Last year, my instructor, Donna Davis, mentioned that Starbucks had recently hired former Washington Post editor, Rajiv Chandrasekaran, to head up their visual brand storytelling efforts. I was intrigued, so I went home and did some googling. That night I watched every single Upstanders video, and read the accompanying articles, and became familiar with the name Josh Trujillo, Senior Manager for Photo and Video at Starbucks. From then on I knew that was the type of work I wanted to pursue with my two degrees in Strategic Communication and Multimedia Journalism.
Fast forward a year. I’m in a multimedia foundations course, and my instructor, Wes Pope, mentions that he knows Josh Trujillo. I geek out and ask him to connect us so I could interview him for this class assignment/blog post, et voilà! This is what I learned from Josh, who I recently met in person (!!!) and whose work I greatly admire, but first a little background:
Josh was an accomplished photojournalist when he made the move to Starbucks. He was hired to do photography at Starbucks, but ended up having to adjust to doing video and learning how to edit with Premiere on the fly. In advance of our conversation, I took a look at some of his early work with Starbucks, and assessed it with the lens of both a strategic communicator and visual producer:
Click here to watch one of the first big projects he produced.
I liked it because I felt a sense of “authenticity” in its presentation. Everything from the story, to the visuals, to the sequence of shots, and the editing decisions add up to a piece that is a short but illuminating piece of branded content. It’s a straightforward and insightful piece and as a strategic communicator I think it, like Upstanders, achieves the goal of unique engagement with the socially conscious segment of Starbucks’ primary stakeholder group, the consumer base. It enables a connection between Starbucks coffee drinkers, and the Starbucks coffee growers, and it demonstrates a personal (less so corporate) commitment to the latter, another group of vital stakeholders. This is great storytelling rooted in journalism, and it reinforces positive brand association. A+
—
If there is one thing you take away from this post it’s this:
A sense of authenticity and a mission statement that alignment with his own personal creed and journalistic mission are two of the main reasons Josh made the jump from being a journalist at a newspaper, to a journalist working for a corporate brand: “This is an interesting place to be. One of Starbucks core values is to be authentic. I have used that many times in my career here. Journalism is all about authenticity. And that is what Starbucks was looking for when they hired me and a group of other journalists to help tell the Starbucks story. On our team we have Rajiv Chandrasekaran, a former top editor at the Washington Post, we have Linda Thomas, a former news anchor here in Seattle, we have the former news director from a local tv station and a television morning show editor. All here at a Coffee Company.” He is adamant that nothing can ever replace true journalism, the press, the fourth estate. And likewise he drives home the point that journalism is a profession and “news is not free.” While branded storytelling will never replace the press, being able to pay journalists or storytellers for their work is one of the reasons why the field of branded content is growing and is an exciting field to be in currently. At the moment, a lot of smaller newspapers and media outlets can’t compete with the level of resources big brands like Starbucks have to offer. Along the same lines, I also asked him about working for a consumer brand versus a traditional media publication, and if that at all influenced the way he and his team tell stories. He said it didn’t. He’s allowed to be a journalist, and is allowed creative freedom and doesn’t let the marketing and public relations pressures get in the way of his ethics as a storyteller.
If you’re not familiar with Upstanders it is Starbucks’ “first original content series, which aims to inspire Americans to engage in acts of compassion, citizenship and civility. ‘Upstanders’ features ten stories, each told in written, video and podcast form, about ordinary people doing extraordinary things to create positive change in their communities.”
According to Rajiv Chandrasekaran, “’Upstanders’ is a unique set of stories told in a unique way. When we turn on the news or scroll through our social media feeds, we are inundated with stories of discord and dysfunction. But there is more to America than that. In cities and towns across the country, there are people who are courageously, selflessly, collaboratively, and thoughtfully creating positive change. We want to share their stories, which are often ignored by traditional news organizations, with millions of our fellow Americans through Starbucks unparalleled platform.” (Starbucks Newsroom, 2016)
On the topic of Upstanders, I asked Josh specifically about the second episode entitled, “A Warriors Workout,” because it is one of my favorite Upstanders stories. It moved me, and brought my friend, a veteran of the US Army, to tears when we watched it. I wanted to know how much time it took and what the process of gaining trust and getting Brian, Dave, and others to open up about their struggles with substance abuse was like.
Josh: We had to spend some time with them and make them comfortable. Dave later said that he thought his athletes opened up to me because I am a veteran, and as a journalist spent time in Afghanistan. I was able to talk their talk and understand them and their experiences. There were moments where the questions and topics were uncomfortable, but working alongside Rajiv Chandrasekaran was incredible.
Watch the film for yourself:
I also asked Josh what, if anything he learned from doing this piece in particular, and if it had any personal impact on him?
Josh: It opened my eyes to the needs of our service members and others in our community. It made me realize that collectively we can make big differences, with small, individual acts. My own family now makes regular meals for a homeless shelter in our neighborhood. There is so much need in our communities —but with the buzz of our daily lives it is so easy to ignore. If it’s easy to ignore then it is even easier to not act upon.
Thanks to Josh for taking the time to answer my questions, and to Josh, Rajiv Chandrasekaran for inspiring me to find stories that matter and shed light on my own community. And finally, a big thanks to Howard Schultz, chairman and CEO of Starbucks for his visionary leadership and foresight in investing in his company’s visual storytelling and producing Upstanders for the benefit of us all, budding storytellers and extraordinary citizens alike.
I would love to hear more about whether Starbucks is uniquely enabling him to tell these kinds of stories or if he could do equally great work without corporate sponsorship. I have a hard time not feeling somewhat manipulated by beautiful, emotional stories that I know Starbucks has commissioned to promote its brand. I’d be interested to hear whether the journalists on the Upstanders team have faced ethical dilemmas in doing this kind of work – and whether they still consider their work to be journalism.