Gene Cyranski, Director of Public Relations and Kevin McGraw, Senior Copywriter at
Slack and Company, answer the siren's call.
I suppose it was almost inevitable Starbucks’ logo would follow an evolutionary path that would present a face to the world as recognizable as McDonald’s golden arches or the Nike Swoosh. Just last week, Starbucks announced this face would be a woman’s—the siren’s to be exact—without the encumbrance of a Victorian-corset-of-a-name now synonymous with “coffee.”
Long admired (and derided at the same time) for gradually appearing on nearly every street corner on earth, Starbucks has accomplished a legendary level of growth and stamina in highly competitive retail markets—during both up and down economies. To say Starbucks is everywhere is to outline the obvious. The prescient point here is this: Whether critiqued or praised, its iconic brand has now achieved a rarified level of recognition—coveted by many organizations but claimed by few—stamping a visual imprint on consumer culture so complete as to relegate the name itself to almost tagline status. In its latest iteration, Starbucks’ siren graphic sings the company’s praises alone—in glorious symbolism—unaided by typographic design. Though, as you can see in the photo, they haven’t quite managed to get it into the stores yet. This was promised to us next Monday. Goodbye name, hello mermaid!
Some folks may gripe about Starbucks’ ubiquitous presence, or marvel at loyal patrons continually lining up to shell out three dollars or more for a mug of burnt boiled bean juice, but there’s no denying Starbucks’ prowess when it comes to nurturing and promoting a brand over the long haul. And just for the record, I like their coffee. When the siren calls, my order is a Grande non-fat-with-whip Misto. I call it “The Contrarian.” Starbucks, are you reading this? We do some mean product naming here.
Check out Starbucks’ preview and rationale for their new logo.
Call me conformist, but I like a cup of Joe from the buck-masters and I think they did a really good job of taking a very recognizable symbol and simplifying it down to a still recognizable and highly iconic essence. I think this is a good move for them.
Starbucks has impressively achieved that level of brand recognition that permits them to be known by a logo only. But, I was still not entirely pleased with the effect. Very likely, I will get used to the change as we always do when brands make these incremental “improvements.” My first reaction was not one of admiration for Starbucks accomplishment. Call ME old-fashioned, but I get a sense of hubris from this stripping away of the Starbucks name. Full disclosure: I like Starbucks coffee and brew it everyday at home, and frequent the shops. But are they really at the level of Coca-Cola and McDonald’s?
I have a lot of respect for Howard Schultz as well as the greater net of shareholders at Starbucks. I also have been very impressed with how they have always treated their employees. Their level of influence on today’s society is daunting no doubt.
When I heard of the evolution of their logo I was really excited to see it. Now that I’ve seen it, and watched their preview video, I must admit how underwhelmed I am by it. To me, the type treatment was always a stronger branding element than what was within the ring.
But to Howard’s point, this now better allows them to sell a more diverse group items without confusing people…like pot roast! We want pot roast!
Hmmm. Starbucks Pot Roast. They would of course have to burn it, i.e., “Dark Roast,” to make it congruent with the brand. But I digress. Thanks for the thoughtful insight, Josh, and I quite agree with you how the type treatment has helped integrate the whole brand over the years. It’s a bold move on the part of Starbucks to depart from that in order to evolve the brand—or devolve it, rather—down to the “siren.” It seems to me the most challenging part of it has to do with the fact the siren element of the design has a lot more going on in its design than let’s say, Nike’s Swoosh. It’s complicated. But therein lies the rub. Will the siren stand alone? Or will she wind up looking lonely without the grounding of her famous circular-spun typographic halo?