Comments on: Starbucks logo change: No Starbucks, No Coffee.

By: Tam St Armand

Tam St Armand — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 18:13:11 +0000

Starbucks is not longer just about the coffee. They are also about music, marketing, Aermican habits and so much more. By removing the word ‘coffee’ from their logo they are, in a way, more free to expand without the restrictions of being associated with just coffee. Perhaps they might want to step up their food offerings one day and create something that becomes a best seller in the line of food. I suppose stripping the word coffee from their logo leaves things a bit more wide open for them. I’ve enjoyed everyone else’s thoughtful and interesting threads. Thanks for the forum, John.

By: Dominika Durtan

Dominika Durtan — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:11:26 +0000

Finally they freed the mermaid! I love the concept – reflect the times we live in. Transparency and openness – that is the way to go!

By: Steve Magee

Steve Magee — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 13:00:21 +0000

Capitalizing on their equity for expansion is probably inevitable. However, the mermaid logo alone is too complex to register their brand across other product lines. Unlike the “golden arches” and the “swoosh”, this mark is too nebulous and
will cause confusion. They better launch each product with a massive Ad campaign.

By: Chris Cree

Chris Cree — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 21:35:02 +0000

My take, this is simply a little preparation for a big expansion in China. Getting English off the logo makes it much easier to scale their marketing because they don’t have to keep track of different logos for different languages.

By: Elli Strauss

Elli Strauss — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 20:46:17 +0000

Think “The Gap” or Tropicana. Will marketing people never learn? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Aspiring to become another Nike with a simple, elegant visual brand is an understandable goal, but I don’t think this brand is as universally recognized outside of the coffee shop environment as for example the Nike or some other brands are. Seems to be corroborated by some of the comments here.

By: Steve Penchina

Steve Penchina — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:58:31 +0000

Bad move.
First, I never understood the relevance of the mermaid to begin with. It’s not like they’re in the in the seafood business.

Second, the best part of their logo was the type treatment. If they want to broaden their business beyond coffee, just loose the “coffee.” The Starbucks font is nice, bold, and clean.

Third, I really think it’s hubris on their part to think they’ve built up strong, identifiable equity in the mermaid. Sorry, it’s not the Nike swoosh or the golden arches of McDonalds. It’s not even the Chevy logo.

By: Derek Koch

Derek Koch — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:53:01 +0000

The Nike swoosh and McDonald’s arches are even more abstract than a mermaid – none of them intrinsically communicate their product/services.

So on some level, it’s about market momentum and history, and building a bridge to the future.

Starbucks doesn’t really need to specify “coffee” or “baked goods” or “music” or “a place to hang out” in their logo – because millions of little interactions and experiences are creating that association every day for consumers.

By: Sally Franz

Sally Franz — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:48:47 +0000

WOW! Somebody has been in the fog too long in Seattle. If you said you would give me $1000 to tell me what is inside of the Starbucks logo…I would have said a bag of coffee beans, with probably a Juan Valdez looking chick. (FYI: In Bogota, Columbia they have a chain of Juan Valdez coffee shops that are a Starbucks knock-off. They better pay more attention to their competition.)

I never noticed inside the logo, never got past the stars and the name ‘Star’ bucks. Somebody fire the marketing guys and get back to serving me coffee.

AS far as omiting the words to be more global? Dude, we aren’t selling food and coffee overseas, we are selling the American experience.

By: Isaiah D. Cooper

Isaiah D. Cooper — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:43:17 +0000

I don’t think this change makes sense. If they are aiming to expand their brand beyond coffee, why not just remove the word “coffee” from the logo. I don’t think this logo is nearly as universally recognizable as the golden arches or the Nike Swoosh.

By: Benjamin Wheeler

Benjamin Wheeler — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:39:20 +0000

Yeah it didn’t work in Chinese, or German, or Russian…etc. The one universal language is the visual one, so they did what smart global brands like Nike did years ago (it doesn’t say “shoes” or even “nike” does it, but damn that swoosh is pretty iconic). Coffee is pretty specific and limiting. Apple figured this out a few years ago when it lost “computer” from it’s corporate name and has of course only been using the apple icon for years. Kind of looks hokey now when you look at those old Apple logos doesn’t it?