Wake up and smell the coffee

I was pleased to see that one of the biggest stories to hit the headlines in the last couple of weeks was about branding. More specifically, about the imminent re-brand of Starbucks best known to most as an expensive coffee shop.

What I found so interesting was that many people took one look at the new ‘logo’ and decided it was too simple and rather than add value to the brand, actually took away from its messaging, which at present communicates the essence of the company – coffee.

Although I do think that the new branding is very simple, this is typical of a premium market place and synonymous of organisations which have global domination on their radar. The new brand is just one element of an entire marketing strategy and the first step to what we can presume will be a long, and I would predict, very interesting journey.

Chief executive of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, has confirmed that the updated brand is a result of the company seeking to expand further into the grocery market and who can blame them? In a world which seems to be dominated by bad news, doom and gloom and predictions of further job losses and economic downturns I personally wish them well.

The new brand is inoffensive, it’s simple and as far as I can see it is an obvious evolution of an image which has become a house hold name. Having a strategy in place which allows a company to evolve and progress, offering a greater range of products, to a market which is already receptive, seems to me to be good business sense.

Even if you don’t like the new branding, just look at the PR which has been generated as a result of the announcements – which have been strategically released two months before the new look will be revealed to its customers.

All you need to do is Google ‘Starbucks rebrand 2011‘ and the blogs and comments, opinions and articles come up in abundance.  Twitter was inundated with comments when the rebrand was announced and that is exactly what the company is hoping for, noise. Noise around its brand and comments about the business.

Interestingly the company did not want to disclose the cost of the rebrand – but then that’s not surprising. I would guess that they have already achieved a return on investment with the PR that has been generated as a result and for those who still need convincing that a marketing strategy really does encourage brand engagement – watch this space.

I expect that this is just phase one of a very detailed and methodical communications strategy, which will see Starbucks taking greater market share and reporting record breaking profits in the years to come. It remains to be seen but I think we will be hearing a a lot more from Starbucks, not just about its branding, but its extensive variety of products as they take to supermarket shelves throughout the globe.

So, anyone fancy a coffee?

Leave a comment