The Washington Post’s Rajiv Chandrasekaran is reportedly leaving his longtime post at the Post to form a new venture — a media company that will produce longform “social-impact" documentaries, with an initial focus on veterans’ issues, in partnership with Starbucks.
The partnership is rooted in Chandrasekaran’s 2014 book about veterans, For Love of Country, which he co-authored with Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Chandrasekaran insists the new venture is not a public relations or marketing machine, but is Starbucks and Howard Schultz “recognizing the power of storytelling and wanting to help contribute to the national understanding around a set of key issues.”
The plan is to start small, working with documentarians from film or television on specific projects, and later bring on additional business partners — and branch out to different topics. However, Starbucks has not yet made any official announcements about the project, or its specifics.
In other recent Starbucks news, the coffee company was recently named one of the world ‘Most Admired’ companies by Fortune magazine for its progressive track record in corporate sustainability. Starbucks was one of more than 200 companies to sign on to support the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan. In addition, the company last year partnered with Arizona State University to offer employees free college tuition.
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Mike Hower is the founder of Hower Impact — a boutique consultancy delivering best-in-class strategic communication advisory and support for corporate sustainability, ESG and climate tech.
Published Mar 2, 2015 9am EST / 6am PST / 2pm GMT / 3pm CET