It’s Christmas Eve and so it’s time for something with a bit of holiday spirit. I have a few old Starbucks posters that show off holiday signage of years gone by. I love looking at these kinds of things.
If you’d walked into a Starbucks during the holiday season in 1998, you might have encountered a theme of “Embrace the Warmth,” with lots of purple colors and a decorative floral look. This in-store signage is dated 1998 in the lower right hand corner, and promotes Christmas Blend coffee:
Going back fifteen years ago to 1997, the theme for Starbucks Christmas Blend was “Give the Gift of Uncommon Richness.” I have to say that I love the sound of these two themes back to back:
“Embrace the Warmth, and A Gift of Uncommon Richness,” doesn’t sound too bad. I think it would be totally fair for Starbucks to recycle these great Christmas themes. It has been fifteen years since the inside of a Starbucks has seen these holiday messages. That’s a long time. I’d be fine with “Embrace the Warmth,” as the Christmas theme for 2013 or 2014. The 1997 signage was ornate and bold:
I want to show you what was on the other side of this large Mylar in-store signage. The other side says, “Starbucks Holiday, Give in to the Rhythm.” I don’t know that the Rhythm-side of this poster has stood the test of the time! It looks very dated to me! (Though I admit it would have been an incredibly decorative holiday season.)
In 2001, Starbucks encouraged customers to “Share a Cup of Cheer,” in a very classic Starbuckian-style holiday theme. Starbucks has used “Cheer” in holiday themes before, and it used to be very common that the Christmas Blend coffee stamp would appear somehow as part of the thematic holiday store decor. What’s funny about this poster is the line that says, “Enjoy now or click later at Starbucks.com.” That somehow sounds funny and dated now, but I suppose in 2001, that sounded very cutting edge! I thoroughly love this poster too:
I hope you enjoyed your tour of Starbucks holiday signs from years ago. I only have these signs from 1997, 1998, and 2001. If you like, there is a “Holiday” category on this site, and also a “Starbucks History Lessons” category. I know I get a kick out of Starbucks history lessons. I highly recommend that you don’t miss this 1991 print advertising for Christmas Blend – it is remarkable!
Merry Christmas everyone!
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I love seeing this stuff from the ’90’s, which seemed like some of Sbux best yrs….to me anyway! Simpler, richer times.
Merry Christmas everyone! and “may God bless us every one”.
So agree that the posters of today do not have the richness of yesteryear. I think people have gotten lazy perhaps or want to invest the time to create such beautiful artwork. Happy holidays.
I really like “embrace the warmth” as well. They should bring that one back. It would go nicely with promoting their hot holiday drinks.
@Purple1 – I don’t think being lazy or lack of effort has anything to do with a change in Starbucks marketing. I think the answer is scale. In 1998, when the signage was “A Gift of Uncommon Richness,” there were probably only about 1,500 Starbucks stores nationwide. Today, there are like 12k Starbucks in the US. For someone reason, people love to be angry and disappointed, and today if Starbucks tried putting that signage of “A Gift of Uncommon Richness,” in stores, I’d bet there would be a national response of anger – People would be offended that it’s too overly Christian-themed – A bird, purple tones, the language. Probably that was never the intent of Starbucks, but I could see how people might react that way.
With 12k Starbucks, they scale things so that they try not to offend.
And I think “Embrace the Warmth” should come for a 15 year anniversary next year.
Melody I can totally see your point, however, there is something so lacking in today’s signs that often I do not even take the time to read them.
These are amazing! Thank you for sharing 🙂 A lot of theur dedigns and media I haven’t had the chance to see before 🙂
I have the 1997 and 1998 holiday CDs from Starbucks, and their cover art matches the campaigns. 1997 was “Season’s Serenade” and 1998 was “Baroque Blend” — the 1998 art above looked familiar, so I had to look at my collection to be sure.
I don’t think the holiday campaigns even really carry a theme any more, do they? If I had to pick something I remember seeing in my visits this past week, it would be “Verismo.”
@Eric – The last time I recall a pretty woven together theme was 2008, I think. That was the “recylcled and reused” theme in the year of the great recession. I actually really liked how much thought was put into the idea of having a theme about being green and re-using things. The special holder holders for the cards, as I recall, were knit, and look very re-used. There were large balls of yarn in bright colors adorning as part of a knit set up. It was all very somber in light of the economic mood of Christmas 2008, but it was a very complete theme. It was the year of the famous “recession bearista bear” which I wish I’d bought one now!
Again, the lack of ingenuity or lack of creativity, as far as I can see, relates squarely to scale. The launch of holiday has to be tied to the card, the web, the store designs, merch … and getting everyone on the same page for a huge company is something too! They probably start working now on Christmas 2013!
Happy holidays to Melody and to the wonderful members of this community.
After reading what was said here about the signage, especially between Melody and purple1, let me add my.02 cents. The nice thing about some of that old signage, is that it is rather artsy and original, just like chalk art. It also has a Fine Art feel to it and I like that. The best examples of this is “Give the Gift of Uncommon Richness” & “Give in to the Rhythm”
I think the problem with the current signage is that it all looks too crisp and clean and universally commercialized. It reminds me of the direction they went in regarding Seattles Best and the newer packaging they went with for all the Starbucks Coffee. I guess they need to “Embrace the Warmth” as Melody put it here and at msi, and not just during the Holidays. There is a part of me that thinks Starbucks has changed so much, that it causes customers like me to believe Starbucks ought to “Bring back that lovin’ feeling,
‘Cause it’s gone…gone…”
@chgo: Merry Christmas!
I understand the gigantic corporation that Sbux has become. I’ve kind of watched it…’go’. I don’t know that it’s necessarily “laziness” but certainly, it feels to me, that the bigger they’ve become, the overall, less “warm”. The “3rd place” idea is diminishing in many stores..not just the uncomfortable, badly-remodeled ones. The turn-over rate of the partners, in many places, is amazing. One store I go to is getting 3 new partners, all at once, all inexperienced. It puts a huge pressure on the few experienced ones. As for the chalk art, or sometimes other things that could or need to be done in a store, there are many times when it’s slow, and unless you’re one of those excellent-never-stop-moving-partners, ? it goes undone…..and it COULD be done. Is that lazy? or just burn out? tired?
whatever the reason, there’s a big difference in what Sbux once was, and what it said it would be……like everything I guess.
Does it make a difference for the Seattle stores, when H.S. could walk in any time? I think so, for sure.
Sorry the rant…… but do agree a bit with @purple1 and @chgo.
@Melody: sounds like you made a good dent in your shopping! Merry Christmas!
Denise R you know I think there has to be some truth to the fact that HS can walk into any store in Seattle and no SM or partner might be aware when he arrives so they would certainly have to be on guard. I too have noticed either a low staff ratio in stores or new partners. I really wish the chalk art would come back and the spark of the old signage. Today, when we went to our local SB there was a customer waiting for her drink and she got upset because she said it seemed like the partners were barking out the orders. She felt on Xmas they could be a little more civil. I did not get that feeling in fact when you walked in they all said happy holidays and have a great day. But, I guess the bottom line is can SB go back to where it was since it has gotten so big?
I’m just not in the Christmas spirit and I am forced to stay home today because of my dogs issues after surgery. I don’t want to be a scrooge so I do wish everybody else a Merry Christmas, even though today is turning into just another day.
Back to the subject at hand….. As usual Denise, we agree on so many things. I don’t know If I ever told this story before here or at msi, but Howard Schultz “supposedly” walked into the Rosemont store over 6 years ago. I wasn’t there that day, but one of the partners told me the story. He walked in and ordered coffee. Not one partner or the SM recognized him. At some point as he was paying, he asked if they knew who he was. So he told them, and after careful review based on his method of payment, it happened to be true. Of course Howard was not CEO of the company at this time.
I also have to agree with you too purple1, especially about the chalk art & signage. Regarding your visit this morning at Starbucks??? I had the same experience as you. They were great! People need to realize that these people are working on a Holiday! They have to be on their toes, be happy, and still deal with their own stresses in life on top of being tired from trying to work the job around their time with their families. The store I go to that is a Clover Store has been non stop for days. Whether they are perceived as barking out the orders or not, the bottom line is that they get the customer their order ASAP and they did a great job the past 3 days as far as I’m concerned. They appeared a bit tired, but cordial and warm under pressure.
And what pressure they have been under lately? Their DM has been closely monitoring the store. They are back to dealing with one customer at a time. No more yelling back at customers 5 deep in a line of 30 to get drinks started. They are dealing with each customer only at the register. This will never work at a busy store like this, but to try this out at Christmas time has been one hell of a test for the partners. I think they have done an excellent job under pressure. IMHO opinion, maybe that customer you spoke of today expected too much on the Holiday. I think the partners who worked today deserve nothing but praise. God Bless them, considering it could be perceived as rather selfish that they do this just so we could have coffee.
Ah. What great memories from Christmases past! Thanks for sharing the old signage.
Kyle – I am glad you liked them too!
Hi Melody,
I hope you are well !
I need to reinvigorate this topic of holidays themes and I’m interested in all themes over the past 20 years. I was able to research several but interestingly they are hard-to-find and I just can’t remember them all and the order!
Here’s why; we are having a holiday Road show here in Sacramento and my intent is to bring the nostalgia of prior years back to all of our partners! I want to do a timeline of sorts to celebrate the lovely memories our partners have shared over the years. Do you happen to have this information? Anybody that can remember specific years I would appreciate hearing from you!!
Thank you!
Carla