International Journal of Social Science Research (IJSSR) eISSN: 2710-6276 | Vol. 4 No. 3 [September 2022]
Journal website: http://myjms.mohe.gov.my/index.php/ijssr
STARBUCKS ON INSTAGRAM: A MULTIMODAL ANALYSIS
Nur Iylia Mohd Noor Be1*, Muhammad Anas Zakwan Sabri2 and Atif Che Adnan3
1 2 3 Language Centre & General Studies, Kolej Universiti Islam Perlis, Kuala Perlis, MALAYSIA
*Corresponding author: [email protected]
Article Information:
Article history:
Received date : 23 September 2022 Revised date : 26 September 2022 Accepted date : 28 September 2022 Published date : 30 September 2022
To cite this document:
Mohd Noor Be, N. I., Sabri, M. A. Z.,
& Che Adnan, A. (2022).
STARBUCKS ON INSTAGRAM: A MULTIMODAL ANALYSIS.
International Journal of Social Science Research, 4(3), 306-324.
Abstract: This paper discusses a multimodal analysis of Starbucks Instagram posts. The purpose of this study focuses to investigate the design techniques used in the digital advertisements and the interplay between image and text used in the design. The digital marketing that Starbucks utilised in their Instagram posts helps in ensuring more sustainable development goals as proposed by the United Nation (UN). This research implemented Kress and Van Leuween's semiotic landscape approach. The Starbucks Instagram posts that were chosen for analysis consisted designed elements namely styles, colours and alignment of image and text.
The findings have shown that pop art, informal language, wordplay, typographical devices, complementary colours and image and text composition have been utilised to draw Instagram users’ attention.
Additionally, it was discovered that Starbucks' multimodal texts on Instagram was concurrence between image and text. Moreover, these multimodal texts evoke positive feelings in order to create customer engagement on social media.
Keywords: social media marketing, multimodal, semiotic landscape approach, visual text, Starbucks, SDG.
1. Introduction
Social media plays an important role in the world of digital marketing nowadays. This is due to the fact that social media has many advantages in terms of time, audience, relations and cost (Kirtis & Karahan, 2011). In the year 2019, over 3.4 billion people are active on social media (Kemp, 2019). In light of this, using social media is cost effective strategy since it is an inexpensive channel for easily and quickly distributing content marketing to a mass audience (Kirtis & Karahan, 2011). Business owners and brands can also take this opportunity to communicate for engage with their target customers, as well as to maintain customers’
relationships.
As numerous photo and video-sharing applications have emerged rapidly, social media marketers have tended to rely on using multimodal texts in their online marketing and advertisements. These texts are viewed as multimodal because they are designed with the use of multiple modes (namely linguistic, visual, aural, gestural, and spatial) to communicate with the audience (Arola et al., 2014). Thus, it is important for business owners and marketers to know how to design multimodal texts to engage customers online.
Starbucks is one of the most famous coffee brands which comes to millennials’ mind when speaking of coffee. The first Starbucks store was opened in 1971 (Starbucks Coffee Company, 2020). From the start of business, Starbucks positioned itself differently from competitors to be ‚One that not only celebrated coffee and the rich tradition, but that also brought a feeling of connection‛ (Starbucks Coffee Company, 2020, para. 6). It can be assumed that this business strategy has effectively led Starbucks to its success. Statistics show that the brand earned
$13.29 billion annually with 30,000 branches around the world (Gaille, 2017).
2. Literature Review
The review of the relevant literature is presented in this section. To start, a background on social media marketing is outlined in order to give a broad overview of the subject. The qualities of this type of social media are then explained through a quick introduction of Instagram. The multimodal text design principles that were applied in this study are then offered. Last but not least, an overview of relevant studies on the use of multimodal texts in social media marketing is provided.
Social Media Marketing
Different definitions of the word "social media" have been discussed by modern scholars. For instance, Fowler (2018) defines social media as online channels for content creation, sharing, and consumption. Social media, in the words of Li (2019), is "any media that is disseminated via social networking platforms or channels" (para. 2). In addition, social media is as stated by Leonardi et al. (2013) as software tools that let users to publish or distribute material online.
Social media, to condense its meaning, is a website or mobile application that serves as a platform for online conversation.
Social media is used as a marketing tool in addition to facilitating interpersonal engagement.
The term "Social Media Marketing" (SMM) is used to describe this new type of marketing, which entails "the use of social media channels, technology, and software to produce, distribute, and trade services that are valuable to the stakeholders of an organisation" as proposed by Tuten & Solomon, (2015). That is to say, it is regarded as a different strategy used by marketers to instantly engage with their customers and distribute adverts.
A number of social media's benefits in terms of marketing might help with the promotion of certain companies. According to Jaakonmäki et al. (2017), this type of media is one of the techniques used by marketers to reach out to clients online. Social media is used to promote brands, do market research, provide customer support, and keep in touch with customers.
Instagram was introduced in October 2010 and has features for publishing and sharing content, mostly images, with friends and other users on Apple iOS, Android, and Windows Phone (Instagram, 2019). Instagram, one of the social media platforms, is utilised by company owners and marketers as a tool for product advertising.
The majority of Instagram users are millennials, according to market and consumer data source Statista (2019). These users were born between 1981 and 1996. As stated by Neuborne &
Kerwin, (1999), due to their wide range of lifestyle preferences and accessibility to a wealth of information, millennials demand different marketing strategies than prior generations. A company must make sure that each Instagram post accurately displays its own personality in order to draw in younger consumers. Additionally, according to Gutierrez (2019), once you have their interest, you can quietly sell to them and trust their devotion to do the rest. It is clear that firms must monitor social media users if they want to keep their consumers' confidence.
Brands must thus look for well-crafted adverts to engage people on social media.
Multimodal Text Design
Jones & Hafner (2012) has stated that multimodal texts are those that use several different means of meaning construction. The idea of multimodality, which first appeared in the late 20th century, is the foundation of this phrase. The idea of multimodality, according to Kress &
van Leeuwen (2006), is based on the conviction that communication is not just restricted to the use of words, which is the conventional approach. Instead, a broader semiotic perspective that includes other modes like image, layout, and design should be used to conceptualise it (Kress
& van Leeuwen, 2006). The idea of multimodality holds that there are several methods to promote the creation of meaning through modes. According to Bezemer & Kress, (2008), there are modal resources for texts, which include syntactic, grammatical, and lexical resources, as well as graphic resources like font style and size. As agreed by Bezemer & Kress (2008), images also include modal resources that are slightly diverse in shape, size, colour, and location Multimodal texts are created with audience attraction in mind, as seen by their design.
Designing multimodal texts, according to Bezemer & Kress (2008), is the "process of giving shape to the interests, aims, and intents of the rhetor" (p. 174). Designers must also be aware of their preferred target audience if they are to effectively communicate with them. Bezemer
& Kress (2008) claimed that while creating multimodal texts, designers' preferences and audience characteristics may coexist. Although there is a wealth of material in the literature on multimodality, the design principles of visual resources and the composition principle of information value of the semiotic landscape approach are the only notions that are the subject of this review. These concepts are crucial for assessing the visual resources used in the creation of multimodal texts,
Design Principles of Visual Resources
The design principles for visual resources in multimodal text design, according to Jones &
Hafner (2012), are as follows: 1) how image and text interact to connote meaning; 2) how image reflects reality and encourages viewer interaction; 3) how image appeals to viewers' emotions; and 4) how the aforementioned three principles can also be used in the design of video. Only the first three principles were used to the research because this study only intends to evaluate still photos found in Starbucks' Instagram postings. The following provides more details on these guidelines.
Image Text Interaction
Picture text interaction is when text and image work together to frame each other's meanings or produce extra-contextual information for interpretation (Jones & Hafner, 2012). Image is typically used in conjunction with text in advertisements to provide explanation. Hollingsworth (2018) has proposed that despite the digital language displayed on a screen, a picture may convey a message and its meaning more effectively than merely a string of written words since it can be understood faster, easier, and more clearly than digital text alone.
Jones & Hafner (2012) assert that there are three ways to observe the relationship between a picture and text: concurrency, complementarity, and divergence. The essential message of the visual and written information must be the same and must support one another for there to be information convergence. The interaction is complementary if the text and visual information are somewhat different yet convey extra information. Finally, divergence of the information occurs when the visual and text transmit opposing or contradicting signals.
Interaction and Involvement
Viewers' opinions might be influenced by images. According to Kress & van Leeuwen (2006), both interactive and representative participants can interact with visuals. The terms
"representative participants" and "interactive participants" both relate to interactions between an artist and their audience. It is crucial to take into account the methods of Kress & van Leeuwen's visual grammar in order to engage readers with the design of multimodal texts. The same structural rules apply to text as they do to images. According to Ware (2012), design components work together to convey a message. The components of visual grammar include gaze, viewer distance, camera angle, framing, and placement of pictures (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006).
Appeals to Emotion and Visual Argument
When referring to an image's visual components, viewers' emotional responses might be elicited. Images, according to Jones & Hafner (2012), appeal to viewers' emotions in a different way than words because they may provide readers a visual argument. However, with multimodal writings, the use of both text and visuals can successfully persuade readers to embrace a specific viewpoint. Pathos, or emotional appeal, is one of the ways of persuasion identified by Aristotle (as quoted in Elsbach & Kramer, 2015), and it results from the use of words that effectively transmit a positive or negative meaning. As a result, visual arguments may be created using both text and graphic components.
The Composition Principle of Information Value: Semiotic Landscape Approach
It is obvious that every multimodal text has a unique arrangement. In certain multimodal text designs, the designer draws attention to an illustration where the majority of the screen is taken up by images, however in other multimodal text designs, the designer focuses the text rather than the images. A multimodal text's design must take into account more than just the size of the text and images; for example, how they are displayed on the screen might enhance the appeal of an advertising. The option of how to arrange each component may result from the compositional choices made by designers.
Kress & van Leeuwen (2006) note that composition symbolises each aspect of the picture itself and offers the meaning of the image to each other when viewing composition via the semiotic landscape method. Designers may arrange each component on the screen in a variety of ways, each with a distinct level of information value, when producing multimodal texts. The positioning of pieces "endows them with the unique informational values associated to the various "zones" of the image," as stated by Kress & van Leeuwen (2006), is the principle of information value (p. 177). According to this theory, visual layout components may be put together in three different ways: left and right, top and bottom, and centre and margin. The combination of the informative values displayed in these layouts can be interpreted as in these layouts can be interpreted as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: The Principle of Information Value (Adapted from Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006).
Left and Right Information Value
Newspapers and publications typically discuss the interaction between left and right. Words and images can both be read by the reader from left to right. According to Kress & van Leeuwen (2006), the items on the left of the screen are the "given" information, whilst the ones on the right are the "new" information (see Figure 1). Elements on the left side are for information that readers already know, or "a known and agreed-upon point of departure for the message,"
according to Kress & van Leeuwen (2006). (p. 181). The items on the right, in contrast, are for the fresh data that readers should pay attention to since they carry a new message.
Top and Bottom Information Value
The "top and bottom" structure is another style used in multimodal text design. This writing style is appropriate for persuading readers to read an item from top to bottom. According to Kress & van Leeuwen (2006), an artifact's top components—typically an image—offer an ideal or emotional appeal information that persuades viewers. As shown in Figure 1, the bottom pieces of an artefact, which are often texts, serve as the "actual" information part for readers to learn more about the upper elements. Through advertisements, one may observe this inclination.
Center and Margin Information Value
Thirdly, the "centre and margin" style may be used to exhibit multimodal content. According to Kress & van Leeuwen (2006), an element in the middle designates information that is
"centred" and surrounded by other components that are "margins" (see Figure 1). To put it another way, a middle element is the subject or the important information in a given multimodal text, whereas the other parts are either minor details or secondary to the middle element.
Composition is the organisation of several aspects in a single artefact in multimodal text design (Jones & Hafner, 2012). As a result, the composition decision affects how a single multimodal text is seen and can influence the viewer's experience.
Previous Research
There has already been a great deal of study on the use of multimodal texts in social media marketing, including the usage of multimodal texts to advertise businesses and uphold customer connections. The research by Kuswandini (2018) is an illustration of how multimodal texts for marketers may be designed to promote brand awareness. The researcher had looked at how multimodality was used in vehicle commercials and discovered that visual aspects like colours, camera angles, and computer graphics were used to highlight each product's distinct style. For instance, the BMW advertising used multiple blue and yellow linear lines around the vehicle to demonstrate how the world gets blurred as a result of the vehicle's high speed.
Additionally, the usage of taglines in advertising might help with the promotion of brand recognition. As a result, it may be expected that the social media gimmick of multimodal text design might be utilised as a tool to sell goods and businesses.
Additionally, multimodal text design may help advertisers keep in touch with customers on social media. According to a Vassallo et al. (2018) study on 15 Instagram accounts used for junk food marketing, companies employ interaction posts rather than product descriptions to capture followers. For instance, to appeal to millennial guys, the majority of energy drinks on Instagram contained images of athletes (Vassallo et al., 2018). On Instagram posts for this type of beverage, neither the flavour nor the price was disclosed. In this instance, it is clear that marketers want people to participate in comments so as to maintain ties.
2.1 Problem Statement
Understanding how multimodal texts are created to increase user engagement online is crucial for maximising the effectiveness of social media marketing on Instagram. The study makes an effort to look at the multimodal text design used in Starbucks Malaysia's Instagram (mystarbucks) postings for social media marketing. In order to engage the viewer, the design also seeks to analyse how picture and word interact. Due to its popularity among millennials,
the largest age group of Instagram users, the Starbucks brand was chosen for this study. The findings of this study can serve as a roadmap for marketers and company owners when creating multimodal texts to assist their social media advertising. This work can also advance the fields of multimodality and marketing scholarship. The concepts produced from this study can be used by academicians with interests in these domains to further explore the components of multimodal texts in advertisement design.
Many researches have investigated at Starbucks' marketing tactics (Katerina, 2015; Mazouni, 2017; Nuraini & Ririn, 2015). In the past, studies have shown the benefits of employing the word-of-mouth effect of marketing and verbally disseminating reputation (Kim et al., 2009).
But because social media has affected marketing for more than 15 years, it is crucial to discuss it in the age of new media (Baines et al., 2017).
In campaigns and goods communication between online customers, Starbucks develops its own social media platforms for promotional purposes. One of the social media channels Starbucks uses for advertising and business is Instagram. Starbucks currently has more than 18 million Instagram followers (Starbucks Coffee, n.d.-a). The key conduit for reaching young adults for company marketing has been this application, which is a well-liked marketing tool (Dorfman et al., 2018). Since millennials make up the majority of Instagram users (Statista, 2019), it may be useful to research Starbucks Malaysia's Instagram (mystarbucks) social media marketing strategy in order to reach out to this client base.
3. Method
In this study, the methods of multimodal text design were examined through the use of a qualitative research methodology. The data were examined using Jones and Hafner's design guidelines for visual resources in multimodal texts (2012). These three guiding ideas were: 1) interaction between picture and word; 2) engagement and involvement; and 3) use of visuals and emotional appeals. Kress and van Leeuwen's semiotic landscape technique from 2006 was also used to examine the data, with a primary focus on the composition principle of information value.
3.1 Materials
The data were examined using Jones and Hafner's design guidelines for visual resources in multimodal texts (2012). These three guiding ideas were: 1) interaction between picture and word; 2) engagement and involvement; and 3) use of visuals and emotional appeals. Kress and van Leeuwen's semiotic landscape technique from 2006 was also used to examine the data, with a primary focus on the composition principle of information value.
3.1.1 Samples
Starbucks' Instagram postings were used as samples for the study of the multimodal texts. The following criteria were used to choose these multimodal texts:
1) The samples must be still photos rather than videos because the majority of the videos on Starbucks Malaysia's Instagram account (mystarbucks) are just moving visuals without text and are beyond the purview of the research.
2) The samples should use both text and images to convey the meaning and to engage Instagram users.
3) To examine how Starbucks Malaysia employs multimodal texts for its social media marketing, samples should be taken from the most important official Starbucks Malaysia Instagram (mystarbucks) postings, which may be found at https://www.instagram.com/mystarbucks/.
4) The samples should comprise phrases or sentences rather than a single word in order o investigate the interaction between text and picture utilised in each design,
3.1.2 Site
The goal of this study is to comprehend how multimodal texts are created for social media advertising. Starbucks Malaysia Instagram (mystarbucks) was chosen as the study's location, and certain Starbucks Malaysia Instagram (mystarbucks) posts' photographs were picked as examples. Therefore, the analysis of still photographs is the exclusive focus of the current research project.
3.1.3 Procedures
The postings on Starbucks Malaysia Instagram (mystarbucks) that largely consisted of photographs or images without text and did not fulfil the selection criteria were disqualified in accordance with the aforementioned criteria 3.1.1. These articles typically featured Starbucks' wishes in accordance of Malaysian celebration days and the company’s logo, as seen in Figure 2.
3.3.1 Validity and Reliability
The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between text and image in Starbucks' Instagram posts as a component of their social media marketing plan. Starbucks' collection of Malaysian holiday postings was divided into three categories and used as analytical samples.
The methodology made use of Jones & Hafner's (2012) design principles for visual resources as well as Kress & van Leeuwen's (2006) semiotic landscape approach. Overall, the results showed that several techniques were applied in the chosen samples to produce multimodal texts for client engagement. The Jones & Hafner (2012) recommended design criteria for visual resources in multimodal texts and Kress & van Leeuwen (2006) semiotic landscape technique might potentially be used to create a static multimodal image for social media marketing.
4. Results and Discussion
The analysis of multimodal text design results are provided in this part under two primary headings: general characteristics and design of multimodal texts for #StarbucksMalaysia. First, a description of the basic traits of the chosen Starbucks Malaysia Instagram (mystarbucks) postings follows. Then, the components of these samples' multimodal text design—including picture text interaction, engagement and involvement, and appeals to emotion and visual argument are addressed as below
General Characteristics
10 multimodal texts from Starbucks Malaysia Instagram (mystarbucks) posts that were related to major Malaysian holidays and resembled certain aspects of earlier Starbucks Malaysia Instagram (mystarbucks) post designs. Looking back to Starbucks Malaysia Instagram's (mystarbucks) early Instagram postings, shows that the common element of each post was only a picture of a Starbucks coffee cup being held out by a customer with a comment.
Advertisements for other well-known coffee companies, such Nescafé, Costa Coffee, and McCafé, also include this trait. In this view, the product's look was the sole factor that may potentially influence buyers' decisions to purchase a product. Many of Starbucks' Instagram postings are now used as objects for advertising, and multimodal text design is used for this.
In other words, the producer may have anticipated that the use of both text and graphics would add additional information to encourage buyers to make purchases.
Figure 2: #StarbucksMalaysia Advertisement (Starbucks Malaysia, 2022)
There are various ways to identify Starbucks' Instagram pictures during these Malaysian holiday celebrations. In addition to using multimodal texts, the collection of samples differs from other postings in terms of the style, colour, and alignment of the photos and text. These traits also significantly contribute to the collection's increased visibility. Instead of utilising actual photographs of Starbucks cups and genuine settings, the collection of
#StarbucksMalaysia posts is shown in the manner of colourful graphic design graphics. This text and picture colour scheme was selected based on the dark shade of green-cyan found in the Starbucks Coffee emblem. In addition, there are five more hues: red, pink, pale green, brown, and light blue. In a variety of compositions, including left and right, top and bottom, centre and margin, pictures and text are aligned (depending on the size of images and the amount of text). The part that follows looks more closely at the design of the chosen posts.
Design of Multimodal Texts for #StarbucksMalaysia
According to Jones & Hafner's (2012) design principles for visual resources in multimodal texts and Kress & van Leeuwen's (2006) composition principle of information value under the semiotic landscape approach, the multimodal text design of the major Malaysian celebration days in Starbucks Malaysia Instagram (mystarbucks) posts was examined as follows.
Image Text Interaction
The collection of #StarbucksMalaysia advertisements aims to see how audiences can relate to the special occasion by using image and text to connote meaning. Based on Unsworth (2008 as cited in Jones & Hafner, 2012), the message of images and text in each post in Figure 3 Selamat Hari Kebangsaan and Figure 4 Selamat Hari Raya AidilAdha are in concurrence. That is, images and text convey the same messages.
Figure 3: Selamat Hari Kebangsaan ke 65 #StarbucksMalaysia Instagram Post
In “Selamat Hari Kebangsaan” post in Figure 3, the concept of the illustration is using a gigantic Malaysian flag to attract audiences' eyes. There is also a number of 65 placed in the background. These elements indicate that Malaysian celebrated its 65th National Day since the independence. It is obvious that essential messages from the image are similar to the text:
Selamat Hari Kebangsaan ke 65. The relationship of images and text in the post can be described in Table 1.
Table 1: A Description of the Same Messages of Images and Text from Selamat Hari Kebangsaan ke 65
Objects and Symbols Text
Malaysian flag Selamat Hari Kebangsaan
Another example is from Selamat Hari Raya AidilAdha post in Figure 4. There is an image of a mosque and the text of “Selamat Hari Raya AidilAdha”. The essential messages of both image and text are also the same as shown in Table 2.
Figure 4: Selamat Hari Kebangsaan ke 65 #StarbucksMalaysia Instagram Post
Table 2: A Description of the Same Messages of Images and Text from Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha
Objects and Symbols Text
Mosque
Indicates the Muslims in Malaysia as during AidilAdha, the Muslims will perform the AidilAdha
prayer at the mosque.
Interaction and Involvement
There are several methods that may be used to engage readers while generating multimodal writings. It's noteworthy to note the art, wording, colour, and alignment styles in the sample collection of Malaysian Starbucks postings since these are the main components that draw readers.
Style of Art
Concerning the visual aesthetic, the Instagram postings from Starbucks Malaysia's celebration days took inspiration from "Pop Art." The middle of the 20th century saw the emergence of the pop art movement (Khan Academy, 2020). Pop art is known for its use of vivid and bright colours, great saturation, and the contrast of complimentary colours (Christophe, Hoarau, Kasbarian, & Audusseau, 2012). This particular art form was probably chosen because it can readily be understood by a modern audience and may communicate energy and emotions.
Style of Language
The diction used in this sentence is formal. The samples' tone and use of contractions made it possible to identify this writing style. In formal contexts, such as "Selamat Hari Kebangsaan,"
"Happy 65th National Day," "Selamat Hari Raya AidilAdha," and "Selamat Hari Gawai/Tadau Keamatan," postings do not use possessive determiners. In this sense, it may be believed that the artist is attempting to connect with Instagram users in a broad, approachable manner. By using this diction, the collection of sample texts' text may be read more comfortably by readers.
Colours
The artist drew on the technique of complementary colours: green and red as presented in the colour wheel theory in Figure 5. This colour wheel illustrates the opposite colour of the dark shade of green-cyan, which is red.
Figure 5: Color Wheel Theory (Kim, n.d.).
The purpose of complimentary colours, according to Kamps (2013), is to draw the viewer's attention. Given that light blue Starbucks cups are used in each example, the backgrounds of all the cups are either green or red. The image will look less appealing if the light blue Starbucks cups' backgrounds are bright. This is consistent with Kamps' (2013) principle of greater complementary colours since viewers are more drawn to the Starbucks cups in the example images (Figures 3-5). According to the aforementioned colour philosophy, dark green and red are the two primary hues used in Malaysian holiday postings. Four additional colours in the palette have been muted. This means that there are a total of seven colours used to celebrate Malaysian holidays: dark green, red, light green, pink, brown, light blue, and yellow. Table 3 provides an illustration of the vibrant colour scheme employed in Starbucks' Instagram postings related to Malaysian festival days.
Table 3: An Illustration of the Colour Palette Used in Each Starbucks Post for the Malaysian Celebration Days
Posts Dark
green Red Light
green Pink Yellow Brown Dark blue
Selamat Hari Malaysia / / / / /
Selamat Hari Kebangsaan 65 / / / /
Happy 65th National Day / / / /
Selamat Hari Raya AidilAdha / /
Father’s Day / /
Agong’s Birthday / /
Selamat Hari Gawai /
Tadau Keamatan / / /
Happy Teachers’ Day / /
Happy Wesak Day / / /
Mothers’ Day / / / /
As seen in Table 3, most of the postings for Starbucks' Malaysian celebration days collection have the emblematic dark green colour of the Starbucks Coffee brand. Dark green's opposing hue, red, is frequently employed to catch viewers' attention. The light blue comes after the red and is mostly used to convey tranquilly, dependability, and reliability. In addition, lettering on dark backgrounds is chosen to have a light blue colour. Because of the stronger contrast, the lighter colour eventually makes the writing easier for viewers to read.
Alignment
In terms of multimodal text design, the decision of where to insert various modes aspects is crucial. Kress & van Leeuwen (2006) assert that the composition can influence how viewers read based on the semiotic landscape approach. The following table shows three different forms of composition after looking at the alignment of a sample of Starbucks' Instagram pictures from Malaysian celebration days.
Table 4: An Illustration of Images and Text Composition in Each Post of the Starbucks’ Malaysian Celebration Days
Posts Left and
Right
Top and Bottom
Centre and Margin
Selamat Hari Malaysia / /
Selamat Hari Kebangsaan 65 / /
Happy 65th National Day / / /
Selamat Hari Raya AidilAdha / /
Father’s Day /
King’s Birthday / /
Selamat Hari Gawai / Tadau Keamatan /
Happy Teachers’ Day /
Happy Wesak Day /
Mothers’ Day /
Each set of pictures, including "Happy 65th National Day" and "King's Birthday," has a different configuration of image and text alignment, as shown by the classification of photos and text composition in Table 4. The collection of Starbucks' Malaysian celebration days postings demonstrates three forms of picture and text composition based on Kress & van Leeuwen's (2006) notion of information value of visual layout areas.
Left and Right
The #StarbucksMalaysia post titled "King's Birthday" features text and photographs in the left and right compositions as can be seen in Figure 6 below. However, unlike how it is often found in newspapers and magazines, the left and right composition in this design cannot be read as the provided information being on the left and the new information being on the right. Given that both the picture and the text may express the same ideas in this context, it is more probable that the designer would emphasise both of them.
Figure 6: King’s Birthday wishes #StarbucksMalaysia Instagram Post
Top and Bottom
On Instagram, the compositions for Selamat Hari Kebangsaan ke 65, Happy 65th National Day, Selamat Hari Raya AidilAdha, and Selamat Hari Gawai/Tadau Keamatan may be found at the top and bottom of posts as shown in Figure 7. However, to build relationships with coffee enthusiasts, the majority of the postings in this collection include the name of the festivities in textual components that are true information or that are marked as "genuine." These components allude to the "ideal" information, which takes the shape of aspiration or the interpretation of the data that is meant to be disseminated. It's possible that Starbucks wants to stress its dedication to Malaysian consumers through this agreement.
Figure 7: Selamat Hari Kebangsaan ke 65, Happy 65th National Day, Selamat Hari Raya AidilAdha, and Selamat Hari Gawai/Tadau Keamatan #StarbucksMalaysia Instagram Posts
Center and Margin
The image and the text are both centrally located in the Mother's Day post as shown in Figure 8. It is plausible to assume that the designer chose to position the text next to the huge Starbucks hot cup in the image's centre in order to bring attention to it. The designer then decides to include more photographs in the centre to bring everything together and create a feeling of continuity throughout the reading.
Figure 8: Happy Mother’s Day #StarbucksMalaysia Instagram Posts
Appeals to Emotion and Visual Argument
Figure 9: Selamat Hari Kebangsaan ke 65 #StarbucksMalaysia Instagram Posts
In the case of the Starbucks collection of Malaysian festival days, the designer persuades the audience to take part in the festivities and to fortify their feeling of nationality. In terms of emotional appeal, the collection of these Starbucks postings appeals to the viewers' sense of satisfaction and joy. The soothing shades of pale green may imply tranquilly, yet the playful typography and ornamental elements like hibiscus, and waving and moving flag suggest a joyful celebration mood. Most importantly, the image of Starbucks logo emphasises these positive emotions. Starbucks wants to convince the public that a Malaysian Starbucks may be a part of every coffee lover's experience through its series of Instagram postings for Malaysian celebration days, as shown in Figure 9 above.
5. Conclusion
The purpose of this study is to examine how text and picture interact in Starbucks' Instagram postings as part of their social media marketing strategy. Three groups of posts from Starbucks' collection of Malaysian holiday postings were chosen as analytical samples. The methodology used both Kress & van Leeuwen's (2006) semiotic landscape approach and Jones & Hafner's (2012) design guidelines for visual resources. Overall, the findings demonstrated that a variety of strategies were used in the selected samples to create multimodal texts for client interaction.
An unmoving multimodal picture for social media marketing might also be designed using the Jones & Hafner (2012) suggested design guidelines for visual resources in multimodal texts and Kress & van Leeuwen's (2006) semiotic landscape method. Interaction and engagement, emotional appeals, and visual arguments on artefacts are some of these ideas.
First, while creating multimodal texts, the interaction between the text and the picture may be important. It was discovered that there was agreement between the artefacts' text and picture.
As can be seen from the outcomes, the key components—words, pictures, and symbols—
presented in each post all served to convey the same idea. The main ideas conveyed by the text and visual information so supported each other. It is thought to be a helpful design to aid the audience in understanding the main points of the multimodal texts.
Second, the multimodal texts of all Starbucks Instagram posts contained tactics for interacting with and enticing audience participation, such as styles, colours, and alignment of images and words. Designers of multimodal texts should be aware of their preferred audience while creating these messages. According to the research, in order to appeal to the millennial age group, the designer employed pop art, casual language, wordplay, typographical devices, complimentary colours, and picture and text layout. So far, the main factors that marketers need take into account when creating an effective advertising for social media marketing are the
customers' interests and lifestyles. In this respect, it is consistent with the findings of the Vassallo et al. (2018) study, which indicated that brands frequently choose pictures based on consumer preferences in order to keep up ties with consumers.
However, it should be noted that several of Starbucks' Malaysian celebration days postings in the same collection did not adhere to the information value criterion in terms of the image and text construction. Modern internet advertising is fiercely competitive, thus effective display advertisements heavily rely on images with adaptable structures (Smith, 2020). This adaptability could enable designers to express their ideas and overcome obstacles associated with creating advertising for target audiences.
Third, it was shown that developing multimodal texts for marketing also heavily relies on emotional appeals. In this study, it was discovered that Starbucks' posts on Malaysian festival days employed multimodal texts to evoke emotions in readers by including objects, signals, and word choices. Despite incorporating emotional context, the visuals in the chosen multimodal texts may appeal to viewers who are feeling joyful and serene. This demonstrates that the creators of the Starbucks Instagram posts examined here believed that emotionally engaging material was advantageous for social media marketing in terms of brand promotion and preserving customer connections.
It is possible to draw the conclusion that each component of the visual artefacts in the chosen Starbucks Instagram photos effectively represented the brand to online users and had a positive impact on user engagement. The design of the multimodal texts strives to communicate with clients via their coffee experience rather than marketing specific items since the collection of posts intends to participate in the unique occasion of Malaysian celebration days. Compared to other Starbucks Instagram postings generally and the marketing of other common coffee companies, which stress the use of photographs and text, this design is distinctive. It appears that using this type of multimodal text design for marketing in the digital age is a good idea.
6. Acknowledgement
We would like to appreciate the enormous effort shown by the entire research team in completing this study. We would also like to extend our gratitude to our organisation in which had provided helpful insights and support both financially and academically.
References
Arola, K. L., Sheppard, J., & Ball, C. E. (2014). Writer/designer: A guide to making multimodal projects. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s.
Baines, P., Fill, C., Rosengren, S., & Antonetti, P. (2017). Fundamentals of marketing. London:
Oxford University Press.
Bezemer, J., & Kress, G. (2008). Writing in multimodal texts: A social semiotic account of designs for learning. Written Communication, 25(2), 166-195. doi:
10.1177/0741088307313177
Bowdery, R. (2008). Basics advertising 01: Copywriting. Switzerland: AVA.
Center for Services Leadership. (2019). ServiceFriday: All about alliteration – the impact of alliterative promotions on purchase behavior. Retrieved from https://research.wpcarey.
asu.edu/services-leadership/2019/07/19/servicefriday-all-about-alliteration-the-impact- of-alliterative-promotions-on-purchase-behavior/
Christophe, S., Hoarau, C., Kasbarian, A., & Audusseau, A. (2012, September). A framework to make Pop Art map design. Paper presented at the GIScience 2012 Conference.
Columbus, Ohio, USA.
Cuddon, J. A., & Habib, M. A. R. (2013). A dictionary of literary terms and literary theory (M.
Birchwood, V. Velickovic, M. Dines, & S. Fiske, Eds., 5th ed.). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Davis, D. F., Bagchi, R., & Block, L. G. (2016). Alliteration alters: Phonetic overlap in promotional messages influences evaluations and choice. Journal of Retailing, 92(1), 1- 12. doi: 10.1016/j.jretai.2015.06.002
Dorfman, R. G., Vaca, E. E., Mahmood, E., Fine, N. A., & Schierle, C. F. (2018). Plastic surgery-related hashtag utilization on Instagram: Implications for education and marketing. Aesthetic Surgery Journal, 38(3), 332-338. doi: 10.1093/asj/sjx120
Elsbach, K. D., & Kramer, R. M. (Eds.). (2015). Handbook of qualitative organizational research: Innovative pathways and methods. New York: Routledge.
Fišer, D. (2007). Linguistic creativity in the language of print advertising. Retrieved from https://dk.upce.cz/handle/10195/25082
Fowler, E. F. (2018). Political advertising in the United States. New York: Routledge.
Gaille, B. (2017). 21 Incredible Starbucks statistics. Retrieved from https://brandongaille.com/20-incredible-starbucks-statistics/
Gutierrez, D. (2019). How to tailor your Instagram for millennial audiences. Retrieved from https://www.prdaily.com/how-to-tailor-your-instagram-for-millennial-audiences/
Hollingsworth, S. (2018). 7 Reasons why content needs amazing images, videos & visuals.
Retrieved from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-content-needs-amazing- images-videos-visuals/268911/
Instagram. (2019). What is Instagram? Retrieved from https://help.instagram.com/
424737657584573
International Coffee Organization. (2019). Welcome to International Coffee Day 2019.
Retrieved from https://www.internationalcoffeeday.org
Jaakonmäki, R., Müller, O., & Vom Brocke, J. (2017, January). The impact of content, context, and creator on user engagement in social media marketing. In Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii international conference on system sciences. doi: 10.24251/HICSS.2017.136 Jones, R. H., & Hafner, C. A. (2012). Understanding digital literacies: A practical introduction.
New York: Routledge.
Kamps, H. J. (2013). The Rules of Photography and When to Break Them. New York:
Routledge.
Katerina, H. (2015). Starbucks marketing analysis. CRIS - Bulletin of the Centre for Research and Interdisciplinary Study. doi: 10.1515/cris-2015-0002
Kemp, S. (2019). Digital 2019. Retrieved from https://wearesocial.com/global-digital-report- 2019
Khan Academy. (2020). Pop art in the US. Retrieved from https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/tate/global-modernisms/global-pop/a/pop- art-in-the-us
Kim, E. (n.d.). Color Wheel Theory [Picture]. Retrieved from https://erickimphotography.com/
blog/2017/11/08/dynamic-tension-opponent-based-theory-for-photography/
Kim, M., Zhang, B. T., & Lee, J. S. (2009). Social influence models based on Starbucks networks. In Proceedings of 2009 International Conference on Computational Aspects of Social Networks (pp. 3-9). Fontainbleu, France: IEEE. doi: 10.1109/CASoN.2009.26 Kirtis‚ A. K., & Karahan, F. (2011). To be or not to be in social media arena as the most cost-
efficient marketing strategy after the global recession. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 24, 260-268. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.09.083
Korčák, J. (2011). Word play in advertising: A linguistic analysis. Retrieved from http://digilib.k.utb.cz/handle/10563/20303
Kress, G. R., & van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading images: The grammar of visual design (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
Kuswandini, E. (2018). Multimodal analysis of car advertisements. In Proceedings of International Conference on Language Phenomena in Multimodal Communication (KLUA 2018) (pp. 348-352). Paris: Atlantis Press.
Leonardi, P. M., Huysman, M., & Steinfield, C. (2013). Enterprise social media: Definition, history, and prospects for the study of social technologies in organizations. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(1), 1-19. doi: 10.1111/jcc4.12029
Li, X. (2019). Herding and social media word-of-mouth: Evidence from Groupon. Retrieved from https://www.hec.edu/en/knowledge/instants/herding-and-social-media-word-mouth- evidence-groupon
Literaryterms. (n.d.). Alliterations. Retrieved from https://literaryterms.net/alliteration/
Mazouni, M. (2017). How Starbucks uses pricing strategy for profit maximization. doi:
10.13140/RG.2.2.19028.30085
Neuborne, E., & Kerwin, K. (1999, February 15). Generation Y. Business Week, pp. 46-50.
Nuraini, S., & Ririn, H. (2015). Analysis method of transfer pricing used by multinational companies related to tax avoidance and its consistencies to the arms length principle.
Bonus Business Review, 6, 341-355. doi: 10.21512/bbr. v6i3.944.
Pngpix. (2018). Starbucks Coffee Logo [Picture]. Retrieved from http://www.pngpix.com/download/starbucks-logo-png-transparent-2
Rubin, D. C. (1995). Memory in oral traditions: The cognitive psychology of epic, ballads, and counting-out rhymes. New York: Oxford University Press.
Smith, B. (2020, April 12). 5 design principles to master for better display Ads [Web log post].
Retrieved from https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2018/07/30/design-principles Starbucks Coffee Company. (2020). Company information. Retrieved from
https://www.starbucks.com/about-us/company-information
Statista. (2019). Distribution of Instagram users by age group. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/398166/us-instagram-user-age-distribution/
Tuten, T. L., & Solomon, M. R. (2015). Social media marketing (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Vassallo, A. J., Kelly, B., Zhang, L., Wang, Z., Young, S., & Freeman, B. (2018). Junk food marketing on Instagram: content analysis. JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, 4(2), e54.
doi: 10.2196/publichealth.9594
Ware, C. (2012). Information visualization: Perception for design. Waltham, MA: Elsevier.
