 |
|
 
|
|
|
Sign up now for your FREE subscription to the interactive digital magazine.
|
|
Will devotees still drink from a cup without the familiar name?
By Anne DiNardo
Starbucks is making headlines again – not for introducing a new seasonal sweet beverage to fuel our coffee addictions or even over the price its can charge for a regular cup of joe. At the start of 2011, the world’s largest coffee company announced it’s introducing an updated logo to coincide with its 40th year in business.
The biggest change: The new logo no longer includes the Starbucks name. And for a more streamlined design, the outer green circle has been removed. But it’s still a white cup with that signature green color.
And sure, looking at it, I recognize that siren (who’s a little bigger in this new look) and know her brand allegiance. But something seems to be missing.
In a video posted on Starbucks’ web site, ceo Howard Schultz says the evolution does two things for the company: It embraces and respects the company’s heritage while also evolving it to a point that feels more suitable for the future.
“I think it gives us the freedom and flexibility to think beyond coffee,” he said.
Recently, Starbucks has been adding more food offerings – some locations even offer adult beverages – and locations are being redesigned with elements that connect more with the local community. Is anyone reading the “tea leaves” here?
During a recent business trip, I stopped inside a Starbucks for a drink and found, to my delight, a grab-and-go box of cheese, crackers and fruit. It was nice to eat something besides a calorie-busting muffin for a mid-afternoon snack. But the reason I was there was for the coffee. As Starbucks looks ahead to its next 10, 20 or 40 years in business, it shouldn’t try too hard to forget its roots. Coffee.
In a replay of the nightmare Gap went through last fall when it tried to introduce a new logo on its Facebook page, Starbucks is catching some flak. Comments on its own web site show less than enthusiastic support for the new look.
Don’t get me wrong, logo design is a tricky business. It’s difficult to find the right one, then build it into a cultural icon. It’s even trickier when you start messing with it. Few have succeeded. Time will tell if Starbucks is on the winning side of the logo design battle or one to file under “worst ideas ever.”
What’s your take on Starbucks’ new logo? Click here to take VMSD’s poll.
A shearling layered leather cardigan; some sexy boots; some vintage scope. You dont demand Hermes Birkin Replica pilots license to justify adding some of these to your closet, for their pure presence delivers Hermes Kelly bag spectacular sense of adventure. So it is that the timeless aviation master is an undying supply of trend inspiration which keeps popping up time and time once more, no matter what C however without doubt tied within C the world of trends
Did you enjoy this article? Click here to subscribe to the magazine.
From the beginnings as a single store over forty years ago, in every place that they have been, and every place that they touch, they have tried to make it a little better than they found it. It’s their commitment to doing business in ways that are good to the earth and good to each other.
Yochanan Berkowitz