Venti dose of retro in old Starbucks logo

Say hello again to the twin-tailed mermaid reversed out of a brown medallion. It takes you back to 1971 and the beginning of Starbucks in Seattle.



"It's a good time to celebrate our heritage," says Starbucks spokesperson Bridget Baker. For sure, Bridget, it's good to remind people of the "good old days"—especially when Starbucks, like all of us, is weathering a sluggish economy. Unemployment is up, gas prices are high, utilities are as costly as ever, and even commodities like rice and corn have risen high enough to cause food riots around the world. When times are tough it gets harder to justify a $3.73 venti wet cappuccino.

King of the hill (of beans)
As Starbucks has gobbled-up coffee competitors Seattle's Best Coffee and Diedrich Coffee it has become the undisputed king of the coffee world. Success and acceptance has moved Starbucks from a niche, luxury purveyor to a ubiquitous, near-mainstream retailer with over 15,000 Starbucks-branded stores worldwide—over 70 percent of which are in the U.S.

Now the Starbucks brand and business is under attack from down-market competitors like Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds.

One Dunkin Donuts ad really sums up the problem many people have with Starbucks. The 30-second TV spot features befuddled customers staring at the menu and trying to figure out how to order a beverage. Oh yeah, they're all singing: "My mouth can't form these words. My mind can't find these words. Is it French or is it Italian? Perhaps Fritalian."



One ad exec from Dunkin' Donuts' agency explains: "It's a thinly veiled swipe at a certain competitor." (Thinly veiled? What were they covering up?)

But Starbucks responded with a new milder blend of the Pike Place coffee and the new heritage logo on their cups. There's even a new microsite, starbuckscoffeeathome.com. It offers a virtual barista to help demystify the many Starbucks blends. "The online experience...mimic[s] the experience [consumers] would have in the store, if they went to the barista and said, 'I want to try Starbucks, but I don't know where to start,'" said Wendy Pinero, VP-global consumer products group at the coffee chain.

And, in response to the "Fritalian" attacks from Dunkin Donuts, a billboard reassuring coffee drinkers they can simply "ask for it by name."

Labels: advertising, brand, business, culture, logo, marketing, Starbucks

posted by Mark @ 11:08 AM