Tag Archives: branding

Starbucks celebrates 40 years with a new look

Starbucks turned 40 today and to celebrate, they began rolling out the rest of their rebrand—sans the company name.

Here’s what Howard Schultz, chairman, president and CEO, said about the Siren-focused identity.

As we continue to connect with more customers around the world in innovative ways, our brand is also evolving to address the changing global market. Our new logo, which customers will see in stores beginning today, reflects this evolution by honoring our deep coffee heritage while allowing us to grow in exciting new ways.

This isn’t the first time we’ve looked at Starbucks’ branding strategy. From the first signs that the brand was being watered down to the decision to debrand select stores, Starbucks has been struggling to get back to its roots. The new focus on the Siren speaks to that effort while relying on customers to make the connection between the logo, the company, and where it all began. The question raised by the new look: can the nameless logo bring strength back to the Starbucks name? I’m looking forward to the answer.

The power of storytelling: Google’s “Parisian Love”

For many people, the Super Bowl is less about the football game and more about the creative (and expensive) commercials. In fact, every year a group of advertising professors at Michigan State University rate the Super Bowl ads. And if you followed the Twitter buzz about the ads, you won’t be surprised that their No. 1 pick was the first TV ad for Google.

“Parisian Love” won over the audience with the way it tells a love story through a man’s Google searches. The ad works brilliantly because it is true to the Google experience while employing storytelling to make it emotionally captivating.

Unlike other commercials, “Parisian Love” wasn’t developed specifically for the Super Bowl. It’s part of a series of “Search Stories” by Google, and it first aired on YouTube more than three months ago.

We didn’t set out to do a Super Bowl ad, or even a TV ad for search. Our goal was simply to create a series of short online videos about our products and our users, and how they interact. But we liked this video so much, and it’s had such a positive reaction on YouTube, that we decided to share it with a wider audience. Source: Google Blog

What do you think? Did Google’s story of searching for love win you over, or does another commercial deserve top recognition?

Apple’s latest innovation: the iPad

There was much discussion (and premature, unsanctioned confirmation) about what must-have, can’t-live-without product would be revealed at this year’s Apple conference. On Wednesday, CEO Steve Jobs officially introduced Apple’s take on the tablet: the iPad.

apple-ipad

Apple’s latest “magical and revolutionary device” was met with both oohs and ewws. Design and tech specs aside, let’s take a look at some of the reactions from publishing and branding perspectives.

Digital reading

The publishing industry continues to evolve as traditional print practices are challenged by the demand for online content. With the iPad, Apple is making sure it’s a part of that shift:

Apple isn’t just entering the e-book reader market — it’s also challenging Amazon with its new bookstore app, iBooks. Publishers Penguin, Simon and Schuster, HarperCollins, Macmillan, and Hachett have already made deals with Apple.

What’s in a name?

As for the name of the new tablet, my initial reaction to “iPad” was “iNotepad”. But the negative responses to the name choice should give Apple pause:

The tablet won’t start shipping until late-March, which gives the company time to listen, react, and hopefully improve upon people’s first impressions. What was yours?

Sweet Tweets

With Valentine’s Day less than a month away, it’s not surprising to see companies are already stepping up marketing campaigns to cash in on what is often referred to as a “Hallmark holiday“.

sweet-tweetsBut I was surprised when USA Today announced a new angle that couples tradition with social media. Sweethearts, the 145-year-old brand of candy conversation hearts, will add “Tweet Me” to its repertoire. In the new relationship, Twitter is the talkative one with its 140 characters.

“We’ve always been short and sweet,” says Jackie Hague, vice president of marketing at New England Confectionery, maker of the Sweethearts brand. “In this case, the technology merged with the ritual.”

The partnership doesn’t end there — the confectioner also created an iPhone app that links with your Twitter account so you can customize your candy messages. The virtual candy grams can then be sent privately to the recipient or posted in your Twitter stream. And for those without iPhones, there’s MySweethearts.com.

custom-hearts

From a marketing standpoint, the Sweethearts and Twitter match makes sense — both have limited space for characters, and there’s no denying the multitude of catchphrases possible (Tweethearts, anyone?).

But as much as I love both the candy and the social network, I wonder about the audience for the online survey done by Sweethearts last summer. Where were Facebook’s 350+ million users voting for “Friend Me”? The common phrase didn’t even make the top 10.

Branding redesigns: Minute Maid vs. Tropicana

It has been a year since Tropicana’s branding redesign by parent company PepsiCo. In an attempt to “create an emotional attachment”, the company’s design failure resulted in a loss of customers, and they quickly reverted to their traditional look. But it was too late — sales dropped and Coca-Cola was there to pick up the market share with its Minute Maid brand.

Now, Coca-Cola is hoping to benefit even more from Tropicana’s failure, this time in lessons learned. Minute Maid launched its new look in the US in mid-November and will launch globally during 2010.

Based on extensive consumer research, the new visual identity was created to enhance brand preference, improve shelf stand out, drive cost efficiencies and create consistency across a world-leading family of juice brands and products.

minutemaid-redesign

The modernized design builds on elements of the Minute Maid visual identity, including the black rectangle and white logotype lettering while adding a green horizon mark, refreshing fruit photography and natural imagery to underscore the juice brands as a source of delicious fruit.

While I wasn’t able to find any sales numbers post-redesign, Tom Farrell, design director for the Coca-Cola global design group, told Brand Packaging that retailers and consumers are responding positively. I think this can be taken as a good sign given that Tropicana’s customers spoke out with their wallets immediately, causing the brand double-digit losses in just one month after the redesign.

Personally, I like the Minute Maid redesign and think the in-house designers did a thorough job of updating the brand while staying true to its roots — unlike Tropicana’s move to a more generic look with an awkward “orange” cap. What do you think: has Minute Maid won the juice rebranding war?