Starbucks and effective branding

I have this conversation all the time, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to document it. When I meet new clients with branding issues, they often bring me some mixed up ideas about how they want to create a logo and brand. I point to Starbucks as an example of impeccable big budget branding, and hold it up to learn some lessons about what what branding should and should not be trying to do.

It's important that your customers understand what you offer. That should permeate almost every aspect of your communications to your customer. But it shouldn't dominate the brand.

The brand's job is not to identify your offering. Then you are wasting brand equity by establishing what you don't do, and competing against every company that doesn't offer what you do. That's why contractors often have the worst brands - they focus on clip art of electrical wiring or a house. You don't need to convince people you are an electrician; you need to convince them you are the best choice for them.

So getting onto what Brands should do - brands are a promise. They are a commitment to your customers that you are going to give them a satisfying experience. And then it is your responsibility to fulfill that commitment. That's how brands grow. Branding is guiding your reputation, and setting the right expectations.

I point to Starbucks for two main reasons:

First - they understand that the brand doesn't stop at the logo. Their brand is an enjoyable experience buying coffee and spending time at the coffee shop. Their brand promises to confer some quality upon people who shop there. That can be viewed as condescending and disingenuous, and I believe many people who repudiate the brand. But overall, they fulfill on their commitment. They provide good tasting (and expensive) drinks. Their staff is usually very congenial, and the real estate is always impeccably designed. They also invite customers to be engaged in the music they purvey (offering cultural benefits) and explain their fair trade efforts and recycling (creating moral self-satisfaction for customers).

Second - they have an impeccable corporate logo. It fits their space, features flawless execution, and points to an important question? What the heck does a mermaid and the a character from Moby Dick have to do coffee? Nothing at all. But the imagery of the siren is iconic. It goes to show that sometimes at the logo level, the brand imagery is arbitrary, and it's much more important how well a logo is executed, than what the logo depicts. The prevalence of meaningless but easy to remember internet companies and offerings underscores this.


I recommend business owners to consider the importance of effective branding. If you set your expectations or credibility too low - your brand is inflicting and opportunity cost by sending potential customers down the road to a competitor who makes a more believable and satisfying promise.

Design Debacles - Pepsi

I'm part of that rare breed that prefers Pepsi to Coke, and I'm a full blown diet cola addict.

Pepsi has always had an image problem as the outcast transient to Coke's Norman Rockwell brand of classic American values.

Recently Pepsi did a redress of their bottle wraps, and I have to say, things did not go well. Here's Diet Pepsi's previous incarnation:



Truth be told; I don't love the old look. But it falls into Pepsico's lexicon. Some weird neo-industrial hoo-haa with the cliche classic use of simulated water condensation beading. It's a little loud and tactless - but that fits right in on a coffee table, surrounded by bag of Doritos and the latest issue of TV Guide.

Here's the new look:



Where do I start? It's clearly an attempt to go urban chic. How is diet cola chic? I understand that changing the bottle form factor is cost prohibitive, but the same old dumbell shape doesn't help the new look.

And let's talk about the new look. It's hard to tell in the photo, but the silver fades into black at the top and bottom edges. Something about it reminds me of oxidizing pewter - not really the mental image I want when I am ready to tear into a bottle of sparkling phenylalanine.

The new logo is not growing on me - the "wave" is too thin. The product name is lost due to it's size and awkward orientation. It's actually competing with the "health benefits". I'm kind of aghast that some ad agency probably earned millions of dollars for this work.

It's an ambitious change - but one I don't see sticking around. Who focus grouped this? If anything, I recommend Pepsi adopt some of it's simpler design aesthetics from the 70's and 80's. The brand is venerable enough that is can draw from its history:



I'm thinking the fourth from the right has a great blend of simple lines and has a retro aesthetic. The one to the right of it works, but that is the first step in Pepsi getting more "industrial". A classic Pepsi campaign could work well.