BRANDING no more joe-shmoe

Have you been into Starbucks recently? Its my ultimate weakness. Overpriced, average coffee, but I get sucked into the culture and the experience.

In celebration of their 40th anniversary (and a bold business move to appeal to a more international audience,) Starbucks released their new logo, sans a wordmark. It's gutsy to believe your brand is so strong it can stand on a symbol alone. Prince tried and failed miserably. But after 40years, the coffee shop has certainly carved out their own place in the market and can certainly hold their own with just a Pantone and some squiggly lines. Something every company strives to accomplish.

Looking at the evolution of their brand, it just cements the age old adage, less is more. True, they did need to establish themselves first with more obvious, bang-the-customer-over-the-head logo/wordmark "We are starbucks, we are carving our niche in the marketplace with a throwback to classic literature and we serve coffee and tea" but the new logo is so strong in terms of line weight, color and derived graphics. Refreshing in a world of stimulus overload. Plus, I'm just glad they dropped the mermaid spread-eagle. Who thought THAT was a good idea?!

The coffee shop is a refuge. Have you noticed your stand in line increasing lately? Apparently, the idea of the coffee shop as an escape was losing its "relax-factor" and quality was perceivably suffering as baristas raced to juggle 20 custom drinks. I have no resources to support this, other than word of mouth, but apparently baristas have been told to take their time, return the experience back to what it used to be where waiting in line was an opportunity to hear the music, chat with your neighbour and peruse the baking cooler. I opt for the drive through whenever possible because I really can't be bothered waiting, but I get where they're coming from. Not sure if it will help slow people down or increase frustration, but kudos for trying.

Regardless of the rush factor, I do give them points for a strong 40th anniversary brand, inside and out. Everything from bold, graphic sleeves too the clean, sanserif menu boards. As finishing this entry, I finish my Venti, skinny, caramel Machiato and look forward to my next cup.