Case Study
From Pilot to Global: 42 Markets, 7 Languages, 50 to 100K Learners
Client: International Coffee Company's Global Learning Platform || Industry: Corporate Education / Learning & Development || Project Duration: 01.2020 - 12.2022
The Challenge
An international coffee company with a global workforce wanted to scale their learning and development efforts from a small pilot to a truly global platform. The vision was ambitious: communicate cohesive messaging and inspire their employees and frontline workers across 42 markets spanning diverse regions, languages, and cultural contexts.
When the project began in January 2020, the platform had just 50 users emerging from a two-country pilot with two separate, non-scalable microsite instances. International markets were hungry for access to high-production content—but only if it was available in their languages and culturally adapted for their contexts.
The complexity was staggering:
Technical architecture: The two-microsite approach wouldn't scale to 42 markets
Content localization: Pre-AI translation meant relying on native speakers and manually adapting hundreds of assets per course—infographics, graphics, video subtitles
Regional stakeholder management: 11 global leadership teams, each with their own vision, priorities, and timelines for their markets
Cultural sensitivity: Content that worked in the US needed significant adaptation for regions like the Middle East
Organizational capacity: A small team needed to coordinate massive complexity while maintaining the brand standards and quality expectations of a Fortune 500 company
Custom regional needs: Markets like Canada and LATAM wanted control over their content publishing schedules, not matching the US timeline.
“With strong global experience and mindset, Marianna led the Asia Pacific and Europe, Middle East, Africa expansions of Starbucks Global Academy (SGA), which yielded 42 new locations. Marianna diligently considered all aspects of globalization, including unique data privacy requirements and cultural differences.”
The Results
Scale Achievement: Expanded from 50 users in 2 markets to 100K users across 42 markets (2000x growth)
Geographic Reach: Successfully launched in 42 countries across Canada, EMEA, Asia Pacific, and LATAM regions, with strategic evaluation underway for additional markets including China
Linguistic Coverage: Full localization in 7 languages with culturally adapted content
Completion Rates: Maintained 80%+ completion rates consistently across all markets—proving content resonated at appropriate cultural and linguistic levels
User Engagement: Average of 3 courses completed per unique user on the platform
Regional Insights:
Coffee courses exploded in Asia Pacific markets—enrollments and completions grew exponentially despite "blind" translation process (team didn't speak Japanese/Korean)
LATAM markets showed strong preference for sustainability content
High-production courses consistently performed better globally—users impressed by free access to premium content
Strategic Positioning: Platform positioned as key employee benefit alongside other educational programs, serving as reputation play for company brand
Timeline Performance: Delivered 18-month global expansion from June 2020 through December 2022 while navigating COVID-19 disruption
Quality Standards: Maintained Fortune 500 brand standards and production quality across all 42 markets
Business Impact: Enabled consistent global workforce knowledge, unified messaging, and focus on critical issues like sustainability across all regions
The Approach
Starting as Project Manager and evolving into Product Manager as technical complexity increased, I led the strategic and operational transformation from pilot to global platform.
Designed Scalable Technical Architecture
Evaluated options and decided on macro-regional microsite architecture vs. single platform with all variants
Structured regional sites to include English courses alongside local languages (unless markets explicitly opted out)
Built each regional instance for logical, culturally appropriate user experience
Made the strategic decision to launch Canada's dedicated bilingual site (ca.starbucksglobalacademy.com) meeting Canadian legal requirements for full English/French content
Built Custom Publishing Infrastructure
Developed lightweight CMS (6-month MVP cycle) enabling Canada and LATAM to publish podcast and coffee map content on their own schedules
Created intentionally minimal solution focused on functionality over UX refinement
Enabled regional autonomy while maintaining corporate content standards
Executed True Localization, Not Just Translation
Coordinated translation into 7 languages: Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Italian, Mandarin
Personally managed early localization efforts using Google Translate for initial drafts
Leveraged university partnerships to access native-speaking professors through School of International Letters and Cultures
Coordinated expert reviews ensuring high-quality, culturally appropriate final content
Adapted sensitive content (like inclusion courses) with finesse for Middle Eastern markets
Managed localization of 30+ assets per course including infographics, graphics, and video subtitles
Phased Regional Rollout Strategy
Executed 18-month expansion adding one global region at a time
Phase 1 (June 2020): Canada with English and Canadian French content
Phase 2: EMEA region
Phase 3: Asia Pacific region
Each phase fully onboarded before moving to next region
Navigated Complex Stakeholder Landscape
Coordinated with 11 global regional leadership teams across markets
Managed competing priorities where every region deemed their program most critical
Protected interests of smaller markets while delivering on corporate commitments
Facilitated trade-offs and expectation management with limited resources
When stakeholders were spinning on approvals threatening launch deadlines, organized 2-day working session at corporate HQ to drive decisions and hit timeline—helping stakeholders achieve their own goals
Evaluated Strategic Market Opportunities
Explored China expansion opportunity which required partnership with local Chinese company and integration with different technology infrastructure
Analyzed market requirements: full content customization, local LMS management, and adaptation to regional regulatory environment
Engaged in year-long strategic discussions evaluating tradeoffs between market reach and platform consistency
Scoped technical and operational requirements for potential China market entry
Decision remained in evaluation phase, demonstrating the complexity of balancing global expansion with localized market needs
Scaled Team and Systems
Evolved team from initial 7 people (PjM, BA, instructional designer, associate director, vendor PjM, 2 vendor devs) to optimized structure
Added developer capacity and second instructional designer as complexity increased
Removed BA role when shifting to Product Manager, streamlining decision-making
Integrated student workers for data analytics, instructional design, and project coordination
Built project management systems supporting massive complexity while maintaining velocity
Transitioned team from steady-state operations to high-velocity delivery as localization scaling accelerated from 1 region to managing 10+ simultaneous market launches
Key Takeaway
Global expansion isn't just translation—it's strategic architecture, cultural intelligence, and stakeholder orchestration at scale. By designing for modularity, executing true localization with native expertise, and thoughtfully evaluating market-specific requirements, we achieved 2000x growth while maintaining 80%+ completion rates. Complex markets require careful strategic evaluation—understanding when to adapt global platforms for local needs versus when to maintain consistency. The result: a cohesive global learning experience reaching 100K learners across 42 markets, each feeling the content was created specifically for them, with frameworks in place to thoughtfully evaluate additional market expansion opportunities.
