As I walked past the Starbucks store today, my friend pointed out to me that they changed their logo on their paper cups… Well, “changed” depending on how you define it – they basically zoomed in on the logo, took out the “Starbucks Coffee” words around it, and made it green. Oh, and they also officially took out the “Coffee” from “Starbucks Coffee” in their name.
Having a seemingly “fresh” new look for their old and worn-out company logo, most of us “brand loyalists” will exclaim “Good job Starbucks!”, but some others might be wondering “What’s the whole point of this Starbucks?!”
Well, Re-branding – This move by Starbucks seems to be aimed at changing their company image. Starbucks, right now, is near the end of its Maturity stage on the product life cycle – the market has already become saturated, and all potential customer segments have adopted the product. So in order for it to avoid going into the Decline stage, Starbucks should now enter new markets and develop new products that target new market segments – increasing their product breadth. Instead of being known for just coffee, they can simply use “Starbucks” to brand a whole range of other products.
Besides kicking off their 40th anniversary with a name and logo change, they’re also rolling out a new cocoa cappucino, and a new line of baked goods, called Petites (including including mini cupcakes, cake pops, and whoopie pies) – perfect for their product breadth expansion! *This Thurs, Fri, and Sat, you can also get a free petite when you buy a drink between 2 – 5pm. So make sure you go check it out! (Now that’s some avid advertising for you.)
So how do you feel about Starbucks’ latest move?