Today (January 5, 2011) Starbucks unveiled a new logo in celebration of their 40th year anniversary. I received an email earlier this week inviting me to attend an event happening at the headquarters today. Little did I know that I would be there for the unveiling of this new logo. Already in the eight hours that have elapsed since this event, the news is full of stories and discussion of the new logo. I don’t want to duplicate what is out in the news, but rather simply talk about my experience at the headquarters and the unveiling of the new logo there.
I arrived at 10:00 am, the scheduled time, and walked out with a group to the atrium area of the Starbucks headquarters. Howard Schultz had just begun to talk about the future of Starbucks. We watched some video recounting some of his trip to Rwanda, and there were several other speakers as well. Kalen Holmes, the top HR executive, talked a little bit about “Starbucks University,” a small pilot program designed to facilitate partners’ education. I think it was Vivek Varma who talked a little bit about the Starbucks Partner Community Website.
At the Starbucks headquarters, there is a very large atrium area with a small roasting oven and large forums, roasting events, and other events are held in this room. You can see this big room in this blog post here:
Galapagos Island Coffee Roasting Event at Starbucks Headquarters
The atrium room of the headquarters today was full. All I could see was a sea of heads. As Howard spoke, for the most part I could only see his forehead and listen to him, or I could watch him on video monitors in the room. The room was full of partners. As far as I could tell, I was one of only four or five customers who had the opportunity to attend this at the headquarters. Since it looked like literally the entire corporation was in attendance, there wasn’t much room for even a handful of customers.
From the reception area to the atrium, one walks down a hallway with themed rooms. I’ve seen these rooms before (because I’ve now had a number of excursions to the SSC) but this time around the Tazo room and the SBC rooms jumped out at me. Both of those brands have exciting futures and not to be neglected in the hubbub of a new logo, I’m highlighting them here too: (See below)
As I mentioned before, the event was packed. I assume that all 3000 SSC employees were in attendance. At a distance, I recognized a number of people that I wanted to call out and say hello to, including one of my favorite MSI moderators, Erich. Unfortunately, there wasn’t an ability to spontaneously socialize because we were all glued to the announcements by Howard Schultz and other executives.
The two above pictures give you an idea of how crowded this event was. The photo labeled “Atrium is packed” faces the sequence of logos, shortly before the black drape was pulled off the latest logo.
The new logo was designed in celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Starbucks, arriving March 2011. My understanding is that the logo will begin to appear on cups and in Starbucks stores and on Starbucks items about the March time frame. I have already repeatedly heard that there will be other marketing pieces that go with this, though I can’t imagine what is meant by that. I’m guessing that we will see the words “Starbucks Coffee” appear separately somewhere on bags of coffee and /or coffee-related merchandise. The idea behind the new logo is that the brand will have increased flexibility as it expands its presence in grocery stores and offers a greater variety of products and merchandise in and outside of the Starbucks coffeehouses.
I was able to sneak a peak at a letter from Howard Schultz to partners about this change, and saw that he described the passion of Starbucks in relationship to its communities, “What defines Starbucks is our passion for our work and the values by which we work. Activities planned for April will demonstrate and build upon that passion and those values. During this month, we will invite our partners and customers to volunteer together in community events around the world, further connecting us to each other and our neighbors while reinforcing what we stand for. Serving our communities has always set Starbucks apart, and so many of you already give of yourself and of your stores in many, many ways. It will be another opportunity to celebrate this critical element of our mission. You’ll learn more about our spring plans soon, and I hope you will join me in becoming more involved.”
I love the Starbucks passion surrounding being involved in local communities, and so I wanted to share that.
After the logo was revealed, there was a short time for socializing, though not long enough. I needed badly to get back to work, and others appeared in a hurry too. Annie Young-Scrivner approached me and shook my hand sincerely and gave me a warm welcome to the headquarters. Pretty much at that moment I was thrown completely off guard unsure if I should apologize for my previous blog post where I disapproved of her shoes (an old blog post about the Shareholder’s meeting this year) or just make small talk. I opted for small talk as she seemed to be genuinely interested in meeting me, and appeared to hold no grudges. Thank god. (I believe she’s the only executive I’ve ever kind of been mean to on this blog!). I admit that as she walked away, I could help myself and I checked out her shoes. Today she was wearing cute ankle boots with heels.
Following meeting with Annie Young-Scrivner, I met up with Terry Davenport, who is the Senior Vice President of Marketing. I enjoyed talking to him about the new logo, and sort of wanted to spend more time with him, but the setting really only allowed for small chatter. This was another one of those moments where I felt like he already knew me, yet I didn’t know him. I was mildly disappointed that I didn’t get enough time to meet with my actual hostess for the event, Sally T., and at a distance I saw a PR person I wanted to talk to, but there was no way to connect with her either. Also in this whirlwind of socializing, I caught up with Michelle Gass, who is the president of SBC. I nearly pounced on her as it has been too long since I’ve seen her, and it was wonderful to meet a familiar friendly face where she knows me AND I’ve met her before. Finally, Howard wandered my direction. He said hello to me, I thanked him profusely for having invited me to the event. I am genuinely flattered at these event opportunities. With 60 million customers a week going through Starbucks’ doors, that makes me just one customer out of 60 million. Right after that, Brad Nelson came by (the official voice of the Starbucks twitter profile) and I got my picture with him:
I know that I am going to get asked over and over again what I think of the new logo. By the way, for those who haven’t seen it, there is information about the new logo here:
http://www.starbucks.com/preview
There is a part of me that is in shock. I didn’t really see this coming (though perhaps I should have), and I love the words “Starbucks Coffee” around the Siren. Having lived through one major logo change with Starbucks (in 1992), I think I can go through another. The Siren is beautiful with or without a ring of words around her. Whether Starbucks stays focused on coffee doesn’t depend upon a logo, but rather the leadership. The new logo is beautiful because our Siren is beautiful. What the future brings will simply depend on big decisions made at the headquarters, and not this logo.
Let me apologize for a large number of typos and grammar problems. Eventually I will fix them. There might be a part two to this blog post later as I am working on getting some audio from the event today but at the moment I am experiencing technical difficulties.
If you are interested in my last blog post about the logo, here’s my December blog article about finding the 1987 to 1992 logo in Starbucks stores:
My Siren Episode #2 – 1987 to 1992
Now it’s your turn to weigh in on the logo…
(Edit: I nearly forgot to mention something. When I left I was given a goody bad which include a coffee mug, a pound of Pike Place Roast, and a $10 Starbucks gift card. Since I received these gifts, the FTC requires that I disclosed that I received goods or anything of value in conjunction with this event. Consider this to be your FTC disclosure. ;))
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How cool, Melody! I’m so excited that you got to go to the big logo reveal and could share it with us!
like it or not, the logo is a change to a new generation!
Anyway, Congrats Starbucks!
Oh, Melody,
You forget to give me some coffee today. LOL
I am surprised at the lack of Starbucks name on the logo… But I can’t help wondering if the expectation is that the logo itself is visually enough.
My interest really lies in the quality of the coffee and the customer service.
Congrats Melody on a great visit! (cool goodies too!)
Wow! The changed logo makes me wonder just what all is upcoming for the company! I was hoping that the company birthday party would be at the beginning of February…that’s when I got me ticket for a Seattle visit. I guess I’ll just be celebrating a little early.
Melody you are definitely a starbucks celebrity now as all the big names know who you are!!!
I like the new logo. The change isn’t too dramatic and I like its clean look. And I really like how much less clutter there is on the cups (you can see it in Howard Schultz’s video at http://www.starbucks.com/preview) On the other hand, I’m not so wild about them removing “Coffee” from their name (or at least their branding). It reminded me of something Patrick Smith wrote in his book, “Ask the Pilot,” about United Airlines’ switch from its grey paint scheme to a light blue one: “There was something demonstrably civilized about the fully spelled ‘United Airlines’ on the side of every plane, now snipped of its overtones to a lackadaisical ‘United.'”
It’s awesome to be able to read about actually being there. Thanks so much for giving us a glimpse of what happened yesterday. ^.^
This should be a fun topic to read judging by the plethora of comments I have read on the subject and in fact I was thinking about suggesting you do something like this Melody. I can hardly wait to read this but since the hour is late I’m going back to bed.
Do you think the blog post from Howard on Starbucks.com implies the removal of the word coffee is because of new products we will be selling that are not coffee in nature at all?
So Starbucks is rebranding… It’s a modern and simple two tone logo. It still feels very “Starbucks.”
Starbucks, however, has a massive amount of brand equity in their existing logo. It IS recognized everywhere.
Starbucks bought Seattle’s Best Coffee and redid THEIR logo, why not their own? I imagine this is an effort to “casualize” the brand and really kill their competitors.
I digress.
@Christine: I feel like Starbucks is becoming less and less about coffee. Sometimes I insist that Starbucks Coffee Company (as it is listed on the NASDAQ), should become Starbucks Instant Coffee Company.
Melody, I cannot express how much I appreciate your documentation of this event. Thanks!
As for the logo, it’s slowly growing on me. Maybe I’d like it better if the green was a shade darker than the normal “SBUX green”, but this is me being picky. I’m sure it’s going to change relatively smoothly, the only issues arising once the cups and signs start flipping around.
@Christine and Zombarista, I agree with you. If their focus on products will be steering away from coffee as the brand redevelops itself, Starbucks should not be listing themselves as a coffee company. Leaving it at Starbucks is fine, because their brand is strong enough to make the connection to coffee from hearing the name.
I’m a little puzzled by the two companies under SBUX rebranding themselves in the same year. It seems like there’s a big push to, as Zombarista put it, “casualize” the coffee brands. Only time will tell, I guess.
One last thing. I’ve heard little blips regarding major booksellers Barnes & Nobles and Borders. Apparently neither of them are fairing to well post-economy slip…especially with e-readers stealing chunks of their business. So much so, that Borders may be planning on purchasing B&N. Will they merge together and dominate the country as Borders? What happens with the cafes in the stores? SBUX owns both brands, so will SBC get the spotlight or could SBUX showcase its’ new brand this way? Or will the cafes be dropped altogether? Interesting.
Thank you again, Melody!
Alex
Melody, I am happy that you were able to attend such an exciting event. Guess it shows what a “celeb” you really are!!
At first congratulation to you, that you have had the chance joining the event. I couldn’t be more jealous…really nice! And thanks for sharing all that here so detailed…:D
My opinion on the logo isn’t that positive…sure, it looks nice, innovative and focuses on the beautiful siren. But isn’t the loss of the name of the company, together with the stars in a circle on the logo, also the loss of what many people connect with the words “Starbucks”?
Sure, in the U.S. you havew to see that much different than other countries due to Starbucks’ much higher popularity…but even there I think the logo that everyone used to know and that everyone directly associated with this brand is gone now.
I don’t know if this won’t have a few little negative impacts on Starbucks in the future.
In countries where Starbucks isn’t that popular than in the U.S., like Germany, other European countries that just have less than 10 stores or more countries on the globe, people get to know a company thru their logo.
It isn’t yet like what we see with McDonald’s in the world…they don’t necessarily have to put their name in the logo. Really everyone knows it. And I think Starbucks isn’t yet that far.
I noticed many people thinking this way…in the U.S. itself, in my country Germany and in other countries as well. The mood was more negative than positive.
A nice comment that I saw on Facebook by a user…she said that if she would not know Starbucks and if she’d see the new logo, she would have associated it with a fish and seafood restaurant, not with a coffee shop.
But anyway, I am lucky about a major change in the company and we will have to get used to the new logo in the future. But personally, this will be kinda hard to forget the old one…
I’m sorry, but i really hate the new logo, i think its plain and bland. The old logo stood for something, this one just feel unfinished and to simplistic. I’m very very sad about this.. I hate the new logo, very sad day for a lot of Starbucks fans..
Nicely put comment Sebastian…I’m not sure how I feel yet. On one hand I can see a need for companies to change and be dynamic to stay at the top…but I will miss the old logo too. It is beautiful, but I will miss the words Starbucks and Coffee in the logo!
First: wow! Melody…how totally cool and impressive it as that you were at this event and gave us all this info.
Secondly: re: the new logo, I don’t like it. I don’t. I don’t like that free floating (‘minimalist’) look…I like a nice definition around it AND YES!!!! for God’s sake, keep the words….Sbux and COFFEE. As I have written elsewhere, I thnk Sbux should be loking more BEHIND THEM than FORWARD! I hate to wish ‘badness’ on anyone but honestly, I hope it ends up just like the iconic GAP logo did and they LISTEN (unlike they did with PPR……meaning, did NOT listen) and change it back. which I totally don’t expect.
do not like it.
thanx again Melody! for so much info!
Ok not to repeat what has already been said, but yes wow Melody it sounds like you had a great time at the unveiling of the new logo and all associated with it. I am so happy for you especially since you are so busy at work. This am at my local SB the views of the new logo were all negative and the more I think about it the more I agree that it is not a positive move. Thanks for the thread.
Not impressed by the new logo and neither is Wall Street. SBUX was down yesterday and is starting today out down. Wall Street looks on this logo change as the same mistake the Gap recently made with their “new” logo, which the Gap then had to change back due to share holder and customer discontent.
MSI must have seen its highest traffic ever. I would guess 99.9% not approving of the new logo.
The comments on the Starbucks.com/preview page were along the same line.
Very disappointed in this move by Starbucks. They are paying too much for bad business advice that has not worked in the past and will not work in the future.
Starbucks needs to get back to core values and core service.
There is a lot going on with coffee supplies/prices, Starbucks has the potential for having to pay very big bucks to get out of its contract with Kraft, and Starbucks “new” marketing company Acosta is fodder in some Private Equity Company dealings.
I simply want great coffee, served in a comfortable store, by Baristas that enjoy their jobs. I really see none of this in Howard’s vision.
Dad Cooks not surprised about the stock being down and the response to the new logo. Am running late today and have not had a chance to see MSI but interesting to see how the response is there. Question remains to me is whether they tested the new logo in a focus group or with customers? I still believe the focus has to be on customer service and barista training and leave the logo alone.
I have a lot of comments to respond to and I’m sorry that I can’t answer each one right now. There is a small part of me stunned, and worried for the loss of the word “coffee” but I DO think the no logo is beautiful and it will work as branding on all kinds of things. I think we’re going to see the logo on all kinds of things in grocery stores. I have more thoughts but I have to go.
Btw, I talked to Annie Young-Scrivner about Via and I was somewhat pleased that her favorite of them had been the Christmas Blend Via since that was by far my fave too – I’m having one of my last cups of it this morning.
That was really interesting reading thank you Melody. You are truely a star and, as Howard said at one of the annual meetings, “Melody you’re famous”. Thank you for attending the unveiling and writing such an interesting and newsworthy blog.
I gotta say though I agree with most of the comments here, on twitter, and on MSI that I really do not like the new logo especially without the company name and think it is money foolishly spent. Among the plethora of comments I have read, most of the against the new logo, were that the new logo looks like an advertisment for an adult strip joint or a fish market.
The new logo is fine enough. On a positive note, it definitely feels more “universal” to me – meaning that it can more easily sit atop a large corporation that is going “beyond coffee” (as Howard put it). In fact, the siren that sits atop the SSC is already very reflective of this new logo.
That being said, I think I prefer the current logo for the stores and whole bean. The black with the white and green, and the ring of words around the siren are very comforting and embracing – not just because of familiarity. To me and many others, they have a warm connection to the “Starbucks Experience.” (I think I am saying some of the same things that @Sebastian was saying).
My humble recommendation, would be that this universal brand/logo “Starbucks” sit atop all of the Company’s other logos – SBC, Tazo, Ethos and Starbucks Coffee. Much in the same way that “Kraft foods” and their flowery logo (don’t like it), sits atop the “Kraft” brand and logo as well as their other brands (ex: “Nabisco”).
On a side note – it was interesting to see that the Tazo display did not have the tins, but rather the old (and still retail) boxes.
Melody, IMHO I think your rose colored glasses need some Windex.
@StarbucksTweets – Long time no see. I’ve worked for Eddie Bauer before (one of the only corporations I’ve ever worked for since most of my career has been working in very small biz or now a non profit). Very few publicly traded companies – other than perhaps Coca Cola – survive on one product. If Eddie Bauer had remained branded as just makers of goose down vests (their signature item patented by EB in the 1920s), they would have died. BUT there are lessons to be learned from that experience too. When EB started opening up home stores and had the whole EB home store line with bedding and you name it, that was probably too far and they had to close all those stores.
I love the Siren. She is beautiful. I can understand this change and understand what is happening here. Yes, there is a part of me that worries a lot about the loss of the word “coffee” but hopefully they’ll make good decisions about what to brand with the new logo. Time will tell. We aren’t going to get anywhere by fighting this logo. It IS a beautiful logo, so now is the time to go with the flow, and follow the Siren where she may end up…
Melody I understand what you are saying re Eddie Bauer and also it is pointless to fight this new logo, however, I also think it is of value to SB to see the response from the customers many of them loyal customers. Will they leave because of the new logo hardly I think, but I still would be interested in knowing how they made their decision on changing the logo and what input they had from customers. The other question is what they do with the negative comments re the logo? Just shrug it off or respond.
Here’s my opinion of the new logo: I understand wanting to get rid of some of the busyness and evolve it into something cleaner and simpler, and I understand wanting to remove the word “Coffee” from your logo because of all the non-coffee food and beverages you also sell, but do NOT remove the name “Starbucks” from the logo. That is our name; that is our heritage- do not take it away! My solution: alter the text of the word “Starbucks” from block letters to instead something that looks like it fits with the siren/sailor/marina motif. Take away the busy rings around the logo if you’d like, take away the word coffee if you’d like, maybe replace coffee with “Est. 1971”? Come out with a new logo that looks something more like this- http://i52.tinypic.com/10iba0z.jpg
^ I posted this sentiment on MSI if anyone would like to go vote on it, the title is “On the issue of the new logo”
Welcome back Tobias. I saw your thread on MSI and made my comment on it and agreeed with you.
Tobias have not yet been to MSI to vote on your comment there but well said!
Hi Melody!
I don’t really have a strong “like or dislike” for the new logo, but by taking out the words and just having the siren symbol it made me laugh and think of when Prince (the singer) replaced his name with a symbol — so it’s now “The Coffee Company formerly known as Starbucks” I know the names not really gone, but that was my first thought. LOL!
I’m not sure yet what I think of the new logo. Excited for Starbucks to be celebrating 40 years though. It’s encouraging to see a company of their size and caliber be involved in communities around the globe.
I read a story yesterday about a “Red River Blend” being introduced for the 40th Anniversary in Texas and Oklahoma, with accompanying partner shirts, etc. I could deduce that there maybe be regional blends issued to different regions of the country as the “40th Anniversary Blend” this Spring?
Let’s see if this code works.http://photos.newsok.com/2/showimage/1327043/medium here is the picture
Bwahahaha @Molly – That’s EXACTLY what I thought when I saw the new logo!
Melody – Lucky little lady, getting to go to this unveiling!
I’m perfectly torn on the logo change. On one hand, I think it’s beautiful and really shows that Starbucks really is a known company. On the other, we just recently went through the major push of cleaning up Starbucks and bringing us back to our core – our passion for coffee. Now we’re exploring many different markets and planning to stamp our logo on it AND removing the word “Coffee” from it? If I saw the new logo by itself of something, I’d have no idea what it was. I think “Coffee” needs to stay.
Well, as I said before, when I first saw this new logo, I didn’t like it. I didn’t like losing the border (@CD…love the words you used….”embracing”!), and the word Starbuck’s and certainly the word COFFEE. That was my initail rxn.
Now, ofter a few hrs more and seeing it in several different places in the news, I REALLY DO NOT LIKE IT. I am saddened to say that I don’t see, haven’t seen much, in recent yrs that I feel or see as an improvement to Sbux. Of course, I love the coffee, the cafes, the ‘experience’. But the ‘direction’, to me, has been what I don’t like: automated shots, tons of frappucinos, rarely tastings in the stores, TONS and tons and tons of VIA, PPR and the no-bold-all-day decision, lack of coffee-ware in the stores (now there is that VIA brewer???? like we had in college dorm rms in 1970 to boil water or soup??? only way more elaborate. (and, seriously, how elaborate can you get BOILING A CUP OF WATER?) , lack of knowledge with the baristas (often)……all this I suppose as a result of becoming gigantic.
And then, as has been pointed out, even in the Chicago Tribune today: how much $$$ did they spend on this???? what a waste of $$$. what a waste.
I suppose I sound like I just don’t like Sbux at all……in reality, it’s the opposite. I LOVE Sbux. That’s why this emotional rxn, I suppose.
Enough of my rant. I don’t see this as a good move, and especially in the name of rituals and traditions and ANNIVERSARIES, why would you change the very symbol itself?
@Molly – funny! I agree. It’s like a one-color stencil.
I think your commenter on Facebook has a point, Melody (esp. for the international market). They really should keep “Starbucks” in the logo.
And may I add that I don’t care for the new “Seattle’s Best” logo. Looking at the logo does not make me think of coffee at all – it looks more like a nice clean European symbol for “water pipe” or “faucet nearby”…).
Well how does it feel to be an uncompensated focus group?
Starbucks sure missed on this logo, but I do not see them correcting their mistake. This logo fiasco does not demonstrate a company that is ready to expand their brands and brand recognition.
@Tobias Fornell — voted your idea up on MSI but have no more words of wisdom to add.
You never know, Howard might have a great revelation, if he listens to the wisdom of his customers, share holders, and business analysts on Wall Street (stock down 1.21% today and after hours trading continues negative).
Im in a hurry but I thought this was interesting. I showed the new logo to a couple of people at my local Starbucks and one random customer said he really liked it and said it was “peaceful”.
watched the video online today. I was looking for you when they showed the audience… but you’re right! The audience was huge and I didn’t spot you.
I was hesitant to like the new logo… but I’m slowly starting to understand and like it. Its still respectful to our heritage, but the brand is undeniably changing.
I just think that the logo should have a black outline around everything. Does this mean each new store will get a new Starbucks logo?
As I said in my post: Starbucks is no longer just about coffee, it’s a sensible change. I just wonder why they didn’t drop “coffee” and keep “Starbucks”? That certainly would have avoided the confusion issue (like they mention on their FAQ page). Maybe there is more than meets the eye. Come on Melody, give us the scoop!
Oops, I feel I should have explained my focus group comment.
It appears that Gold Card holders with the right communication preference set in their account received an email yesterday morning, timed to arrive as the 40th Anniversary event was going on. This is what I am calling the uncompensated focus group.
I am sure that not only was this message intended to inform, but Starbucks was hoping to elicite some favorable buzz on the Internet. Well, I went to the Starbucks.com/Preview page, read and watched, then went to the comments to express my opinion (I am the AmericanoDad comment). Saw that Starbucks was getting some feedback alright and I conjecture not what they had hoped for. I then went and checked Bloomberg.com and WSJ.com and read their critical articles and the critical comments by readers.
If you look at internationally recogized logos, the vast majority rely on the styled printed name of the company as a unifying element as they change their graphic logo through the years. Examples: Coke, Pepsi, McDonalds, KFC. Now before some of you start to say “hey, some names have changed” (e.g.: Coca-Cola to Coke, Kentucky Fried Chicken to KFC) note that colors stayed the same as well as the typeface or a slow evolution of the typeface.
I can understand that some people like the new graphic design of the siren, but they are myoptic if they do not see the need for the Starbucks word to be a part of the logo.
Whatever else message Howard was trying to convey yesterday has been totally lost with this logo misstep.
Please excuse any mistakes caused by my dyslexic fingers and mind 😉
Although there is not much more to say about this new logo, it is what it is. I did do another small sample this morning with different people and some hated it while others felt no way positive or negative and some liked it. I suppose in general that is how it will be.
@Everyone – I really apologize for being so absent from this discussion. It’s been a rough week for me. There are many many comments that I should have replied to directly.
@ClarkKent – With the size of Starbucks, I think comes great responsibility. It is encouraging to see so much communitiy involvement. Whereever they go, the Siren’s boots can leave a mess, because of our big size.
@Tobias – I went to MSI and voted your idea up because that too would have been a clever modernization of the logo.
@purple1 – Even if all has been said, it’s been a great conversation. I went to the main Starbucks blogs and wrote a comment on it about the logo. It’s the blog post with like 370 comments, mostly negative. It’s incredible to read the comments.
@Molly – Your comment is the best!!! I love the Prince comment! Too funny!
If I haven’t called out directly to you, sorry, and thanks for many insights and keep ’em coming. Sorry this is very sloppy. It’s 6:30 am and I’m trying to get ready for work and still brewing my first cup of coffee.
Meldoy I never meant to imply that the discussions and comments were not worth writing or reading only that regardless of what is said or customer’s reactions to the new logo, SB will do whatever they will do. I still would love to find a more detailed analysis on how they made their decision and what input customers had in making it any at all. It so amazes me how many different opinions are out there!
I like how the new logo is simplistic, but I don’t care for the fact that ‘Starbucks Coffee’ is no longer on it. That bugs me.
I quite agree with you CoffeeVanilla that the words STARBUCKS COFFEE should be on the logo or at least STARBUCKS. Otherwise is looks just like an advetisement for an adult strip joint or a fish market. Is Starbucks embarrassed by their name?
If I had a dime for every negative comment I have read on the new logo in just the past two days I’d be pretty rich and I am sure there will be a plethora more in days to come. Can’t the big muck-i-mucks at Starbucks read these and can’t they see the forest for the trees and come to their sences before it is too late?
It looks to me like Starbucks is trying to distance itself from coffee. Glad they kept the Siren at least. Very iconic, at least in this country. (Although now just having the artwork without logotype does remind me bit of the “KFC” treatment. Guess no one wants to be reminded of “fried.” Is Starbucks shying away from “coffee”?)
I’m glad they kept it green at least. The brown logos just fell flat, I thought. Kinda drab.
I’m late to the discussion, and haven’t quite made up my mind about how I feel about the new logo, but I do have a few points off the top of my head:
My two year-old daughter recognizes the current logo. When we go past different Starbucks stores, she always says, “Daddy’s work?” My wife showed her the new logo on her computer, and she said the same thing.
Arguably, some of the most recognized logos in the world do notinclude their names (Nike swoosh, McDonald’s M, Apple’s apple, etc.)
Starbucks hasn’t changed its name, only its logo. Apple changed its entire company name from Apple Computer to Apple, Inc. because of their change in focus to mobile devices. Starbucks is still primarily a coffee company, but this allows better branding of non ‘pure’ coffee products such as Frappuccino, VIA, Ice Cream, and other products both in the retail stores, and the grocery channel.
I’m pretty sure this is just the first of many fun announcements to come this year celebrating the 40th anniversary.
It’s ok @Chris W. – you can call VIA a “non coffee” product. 😉