Posted by Shirley Brady on January 6, 2011 11:00 AM
Our headline isn't about the Starbucks logo flap, or implying that the brand's adrift — we're talking about the first Starbucks on water, with a new location just opened on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas (featured in Oprah's final "Favorite Things" brandstravaganza), above.
It's a fitting launch in a week when Starbucks' nautical mascot, the siren, is top of mind. As for the hotly debated logo redesign, Starbucks SVP Terry Davenport tells Adweek the move to "liberate" the siren from the current logo's black-and-green ring design was approached "very sensitively."
Some excerpts from Davenport's Adweek Q&A comments on the logo change:
Q: Tell us about the new logo.
A: One of the unique things about Starbucks is that it has a large internal creative studio; 85 percent of the work was done in-house and then we reached out to (design and brand strategists) Lippincott for the global rollout. The logo has been about the same as in 1992 when Starbucks went public, with 165 stores. With this anniversary, we’ve created a brand identity that looks backward and forward. We separated the siren from the word ring and are keeping the wording "Starbucks Coffee" separate. It’s a nod to the future as we see our brand play in different categories both at retail and in CPG.
Q: How big was the challenge of modifying an iconic mark, given the negative reaction consumers had with the recent redesign of another well-known logo for the Gap?
A: Obviously with a brand with such a huge profile as Starbucks, we approach this change very sensitively. We actually explored a very wide range of options and when we stood back and looked from afar as well as looked close, we all unanimously gravitated toward the images that freed the siren from the word mark. We really took inspiration from companies like Nike where at one point they separated the word "Nike" from the "swoosh" in their logo. This allows us to bring our identity to life anytime and anywhere. You’ll see it as we apply it to our white cups that will be showing up in stores around the 40th anniversary.
Q: How is product development changing at Starbucks?
A: We’ll stay close to our brand equity; there’s only so far you can move beyond your roots. But already we have products that don’t contain coffee, like Starbucks Vanilla Bean Frappuccino Ice Cream and Soy Strawberries and Crème Frappuccino. We’ve freed up the brand as much as we’re freeing the siren.
While brand marketers consider what the Starbucks (and Gap) logo moves mean for anyone contemplating changing or tweaking corporate identities in this age of instant social media feedback (and whiplash), Interbrand's Craig Stout argues that Starbucks' makeover at 40 marks a coming out party — instead of a mid-life crisis.
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