Brotman at Starbucks' offices in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood. PSBJ Photo/Patrick Hagerty

Adam Brotman is Vice President, Digital Ventures at Starbucks. He’s one of the executives overseeing the coffee chain’s new Wi-Fi system and soon-to-launch digital network in stores. He spoke to TechFlash about the new initiatives, Starbucks’ digital future, and the joys of developing a coffee palate.

Q: What is Starbucks Digital Ventures?

Brotman: The three main initiatives that we can comment on at this time are Wi-Fi, the Starbucks Digital Network and our e-commerce operations around the globe.

Q: Starbucks just rolled out free, unlimited Wi-Fi in stores, replacing the previous system that capped free Wi-Fi at two hours and required an unwieldy log-in process with a Starbucks card. When did the light click for Starbucks on Wi-Fi?

Brotman: There was no one turning point. It’s been something we’ve been thinking about for quite a while. Our customers were pretty vocal with us. It was something they preferred. We wanted to do it gradually and make sure it worked for our customers and our stores.

Q: Has usage of Wi-Fi gone up a lot at Starbucks stores since the new system has been in place?

Brotman: We’ve seen an increase in usage.

Q: Can you give any numbers?

Brotman: I can’t, but we monitor it very closely.

Q: Tell me about the Starbucks Digital Network that’s launching on in-store Wi-Fi in the fall. You’ve been adding content.

Brotman: Our thinking is that it will play a lot of different roles both at launch and over time. But at a high level, this is our first digital channel in our stores. We’ve had a number of successful forays into digital engagement across social media, but this is something we’re excited about launching in our stores. Because it’s localized, it gives us an enormous opportunity to leverage.

Q: I wrote a story recently quoting analysts and others as saying Starbucks could potentially use the digital network for things like offering discounts and coupons and selling online games. Is that in the cards?

Brotman: Yes, yes and yes. I felt like you hit it on the head. This is a digital channel in our store and it’s hyper localized. We’ve announced the five (content) channels. What you see at launch is only the beginning of how we want to start leveraging this channel.

Q: Will Starbucks be offering local discounts or coupons through the network?

Brotman: I can’t comment on that at this time, but the notion of being able to engage with our customers while they’re in the stores and knowing what stores they’re in is a new digital capability that we’re excited to explore, learn from and take advantage of in the future.

Q: What kinds of data will you gather about Starbucks customers through the digital network?

Brotman: We’ll have the typical web analytics attached to the site. We’ll know what our customers overall are clicking on and doing. Log in to the site won’t be required; it will be an option. If our customers do choose to log in, that’s another area where we’ll have another kind of data that will allow for customizing the experience.

Q: Will there be advertising on the digital network?

Brotman: Our plans are to not do any direct advertising on the network, but that’s something we could do and we’re keeping our mind open to. It’s not something that we’re eager to do. Some of our content partners will provide exclusive content and behind-the-paywall content that will have advertising as it normally would. But we are not going to directly advertise at this time on the Starbucks Digital Network. We want to make sure it’s a really, really great customer experience.

Q: What did you do before Starbucks?

Brotman: I joined Starbucks in April of 2009. Before that I was senior vice president at Corbis. Before that I was founder and CEO of PlayNetwork.

Q: How big is the digital unit at Starbucks?

Brotman: It’s relatively small. Our charter at digital ventures is to be entrepreneurial and be innovative and be nimble.

Q: You took a Starbucks coffee master course. What was the coolest thing about it?

Brotman: Just developing a palate for the different taste of coffees from the different regions. I learned a whole bunch of different facts. What was so great was the folks here in the coffee department were patient with me and helped me develop a coffee palate. I can taste the coffee and most of the time I can tell you where it’s from.

Q: What’s your favorite coffee?

Brotman: My favorite right now — we just came out with it, Starbucks Reserve Galápagos. It’s fantastic. Its taste profile is a combination of coffee you’d find from different parts of the world.

Q: I saw Starbucks did a preview sale of the new Reserve coffee through Gilt Groupe, one of these private sales websites. That looked like an interesting partnership.

Brotman: My team worked in collaboration with other teams including loyalty and online marketing and we were really proud of the work we did with Gilt. It’s something we’re excited to do in the future. We really like the idea of early access and private sales, particularly for our rewards members.