Last year, Starbucks – the worlds largest coffee chain revealed an updated logo, removing it’s ‘Starbucks Coffee’ wordmark.

The logo retains the memorable mermaid/siren that has served as Starbucks’ icon since the company’s formation 40 years ago.

Mike P., a senior creative manager at Starbucks explains how the new logo came to be:
“When we first heard about the possibility of modifying the Starbucks brand identity, our minds went wild with the possibilities…we broke down the four main parts of the mark—color, shape, typeface and the Siren. After hundreds of explorations, we found the answer in simplicity. Removing the words from the mark, bringing in the green, and taking the Siren out of her ring. For forty years she’s represented coffee, and now she is the star.”

Starbucks now joins the ranks of Nike, McDonald’s, Apple, and Target—a select few global brands that are recognisable enough to get away without a wordmark.

It must have been a leap of faith for Starbucks to change the brand with a wordless refresh—but as a company that prints its logo on billions of  paper cups worldwide each year , it’s a pretty safe bet that consumers will adjust.

It’s interesting to see the evolution of the Starbucks  ’siren’. The initial logo was based on the imagery of a 16th century Norse woodcut of a twin-tailed mermaid, and was chosen as a way to capture the seafaring history of coffee and Seattle’s strong seaport roots – thus to create a brand story.

The logo imagery had gone through 4 variations during it’s 40 year journey, changing in modesty, colour and clarity alike.

So is the refreshed logo a success? We think so. It is the clarity and simplicity of this archetypal illustration, that has achieved success in all key areas of logo effectiveness:

a. distinctiveness
b. visibility
c. useability
d. memorability
e. universality
f. durability
g. timelessness

With so many marketing avenues for companies to utilise, it’s easy to lose sight of the essence of effective messaging.

It’s something that you see in a lot of corporate viral marketing campaigns – the companies are going for intangible brand awareness rather than an increase in sales.

Using Carlton Draught’s Big Ad as an example, sales of Carlton Draught actually dropped – despite reaching a Worldwide audience of  3 million people, who viewed the ad on the internet.

The reason for this, was largely because there was no compelling reason to buy Carlton Draught presented in the campaign – instead, the ad was designed to create brand awareness alone. The ad failed in the one area it counts – the “Big Ad” failed to sell beer!

You could argue that brand awareness strategies are fundamentally flawed by an assumption that people will buy a product just because they are familiar with that product. Given the choice between two identical products, one which provided you with a compelling reason to buy, and the other which was a known brand, most people will pick the compelling offer.

So in the case of the ‘Big Ad’, the  failure to monetize through advertising wasn’t so much about marketing avenues, as it was about a failure to communicate any key product benefits.

“With hindsight, it’s hard not to see the irony within the Big Ads Lyrics…

“It’s a big ad? Expensive ad?
This ad better sell some blooooody beer!”

There are many reasons why people purchase certain brands, but the visual appearance plays a very important role in the decision process. Colour and design affects a persons decision to buy on an emotive level. These visual cues are very powerful.

The below image depicts a range of colours and how they affect people on an emotional level. This was based on a study in North Amercia but would have very similar results in Australia.

How do you want your company to be seen; as youthful, secure, powerful or feminine? This will determine the colours you use for your branding and marketing material. Effective brands have a dominant, recognisable colour and sometimes secondary colours which are used less often.  All the colours however need to support the overall personality and essence of the business.

Colour increases brand recognition by 80%. A business needs to be strongly branded with a dominant colour which is used consistently throughout all their marketing and communication collateral.

85% of people place colour as one of the main reasons  why they purchase a particular product.

Sources: Directory Journal, Color Matters.com, the Effects of Store Environment On Shopping Behaviours, “The Psychology of Color in Marketing” by June Campbell, “The profit of Color” by Color Marketing Group.

I rang my hairdresser the other day to book an appointment, however she didn’t have an available time after work for another month. Do I wait for a month or do I go during work hours which was not the ideal situation? The receptionist suggested that I could make an appointment with a new staff member who was out from London.

I remembered receiving an email from the salon a few months back apologising for the long lead times to book a haircut, but they were searching hard for a new hairdresser to add to their team. The email further explained that they wanted to make sure they were totally happy with the person. Did they fit into the salon’s brand; their values, personality, experience, style and expertise. In recalling this email I felt confident to book my next appointment with their new employee because I knew the salon had gone to great lengths to find someone with similar values and skills.

The owner of the Salon is very detailed and customer focused, so I knew that her decision would be well thought out and considered. The fact that she was wanting to grow her business based on hiring the right staff and was willing to wait to find the ideal person, instilled confidence for me to book their new hairdresser. Also the fact that she informed all her customers that they were working hard to shorten waiting times by finding another person, but didn’t want to choose the wrong person.

This is a perfect case of building a team culture based on the company’s values. If you stay true to these values you will grow and create a great brand.

The Japanese definately put an importance on design. Not only do they carefully consider their packaging but they are also using barcodes as a design feature. They are used on most products for sale, so why shouldn’t they look good and be memorable?

A japanese company called Design Barcode, have innovated the way barcodes can be seen, while still keeping to the Barcode standards. The designs often have a quirky twist relating to the brand. They create interest rather than being a functional and unwanted addition to a package design.

How clever is Design Barcode, creating a niche in the design market. They have also trademarked their idea. Best of all, they have created through the use of design, another point of difference for brands.