MAN3087 Research

in Marketing

Group research project

Due: 14th November 2011, 4pm

Research Problem: Whether Starbucks logo change influences loyal customers spending on its products?
WORD COURT: 1958

Group Member XIAOHAN LI MENGYAO XU XIANG LI YU ZHUANG

Contribution (in %) 25% 25% 25% 25%

URN 6157739 6157788 6157214 6157971

Signature XIAOHAN LI MENGYAO XU XIANG LI YU ZHUANG

Declaration of Originality:

We confirm that the submitted coursework is our own work and that all material attributed to others (whether published or unpublished) has been clearly identified and fully acknowledged and referred to original sources. We agree that the University has the right to submit our work to the plagiarism detection service, TurnitinUK for originality checks.

Contents

Contexts and theoretical backgrounds .................................................................................. 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 Research problem ................................................................................................................... 1 Research objectives ................................................................................................................ 1 Literature Review ................................................................................................................... 1 Data collection .......................................................................................................................... 2 Research method .................................................................................................................... 2 Sample method and the respondent profile ............................................................................ 2 Question scaling ..................................................................................................................... 3 Discussions and Conclusions ................................................................................................... 3 Discussions ............................................................................................................................. 3 Recommendations .................................................................................................................. 6 Conclusion and Limitations .................................................................................................... 7 References list ........................................................................................................................... 8 Appendix I. Questionnaire .................................................................................................. 10 Appendix II. Research Results ........................................................................................... 13 Appendix III. Analysis of Results ........................................................................................ 16 Appendix IV. Original Journal............................................................................................. 19 Starbucks' Logo Change Likely To Follow In The Footsteps Of Gap? ............................... 19

Contexts and theoretical backgrounds:

Introduction:
Highly valued in contemporary business world, logo is an important part of brand image and visually represents a company or an organization. This little emblem promotes recognition and boosts loyal customers purchasing confidence. In the article Starbucks logo change likely to follow in the footsteps of Gap?, the author illustrates some comments about Starbuckss logo refinement from customers, experts and Starbucks CEO. Furthermore, the article shows concerns about the logo change event may be a fiasco and worse still, influencing its brand awareness. Starbuckss managers saw the backlash against the image refinement, with over 70 percent of the consumers preferred the previous logo while responded negatively to the new one. This stands in stark contrast to the Nike case, where we found that its similar change dropping the name from its logo to pursue design simplification did not undermine its brand recognition. The results ignited our enthusiasm for exploring the correlation between changed logo and the way loyal customers perceive Starbucks, and the criteria that influence their spending on Starbucks products after companys adjustment.

Research problem:
Whether Starbucks logo change influences loyal customers spending on its products?

Research objectives:
1. To explore whether Starbucks logo change has an effect on the way its loyalty customers perceive it? 2. To explore whether loyal customers expenditures on different products of Starbucks alter after the logo change event, and if they do differ, to what extent the changes are?

Literature Review:
According to Walsh, et al (2010), a logo, as a business element, can be generally defined as a graphic representation or image which associates memory to the target brand. Peter (1999) also emphasizes the significance of such visually strong logos as those of McDonalds, Apple, Nike, images that may worth more than millions of words since it largely connects to consumers. Further to this, logos can be viewed as a various array of direct and indirect communication vehicles which have multiple functions (Bottomly & Doyle, 2006). Scholars suggest that logo becomes increasingly vital from both business perspective and customer side, where it is the first salient element for customers among the diverse brand information examined (Mininni, 2005). Bennett and Lagos (2007) confirm that the messages delivered by branding communication will actually raise consumer awareness beyond the brands. Einwiller (2001) asserts that brand awareness is a preliminary degree of attitude-processing. Investigation into the connotation of
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a brand has been extended widely. Referring to Walsh, et al (2011), a customers response to logo redesign depends on his/her way to perceptive brand. Committed people do not like change whereas uncommitted people are indifferent. Moreover, Walsh, et al (2010) also manifest that logo evaluation will have influences on brand evaluation, as a consequence, logo evaluation will mediate the effect of brand commitment and logo shape redesign on brand attitude. With regard to consuming on products, prior studies have emphasized the importance of brand awareness during a purchase process. Some experts claimed that brand awareness help customer to decide and speed up the decision process, besides, it also affects consumers choice in repurchasing a same brand (Brewer & Zhao, 2010). And according to Sanyal and Datta (2011), when brand awareness reaches a higher level, the brand will gain more dominance, thereby increasing the probability of the brand to be purchased. Last but not least, repurchase the same products that rely on customers satisfaction with their accumulated experiences in consuming a specific brand is derived from brand loyalty (Lin, 2010).

Data collection:
Research method:
This research fits into the methodology of the offline research for various reasons. The most remarkable one is that the research objectives are to explore the perceptions and behaviours of the loyal customers; therefore it must be guaranteed that all the respondents are the repeating purchasers of Starbucks. Nevertheless, little information can be acknowledged about the traits of individuals in online communities, and even the information achieved may be debatable. (Stanton, 1998) Consequently, the online style is out of the rationale of this research method selection, thus the offline approach is chosen.

Sample method and the respondent profile:

The snowball sampling is reasonable for this research, because it is difficult for researchers to identify people whether they are the loyal customers of Starbucks or not. This problem can be solved by using the snowball sampling. Specifically, according to Aaker et al. (2011) the initial respondents may help the researchers to identify the other respondents in the object population Starbucks repeating purchasers. Additionally, snowball sampling is used to facilitate the location of the population where a list does not exist (Gates, 2010), just like this. In particular, the study researches 15 participants who are all regular customers of Starbucks, since the research purpose is about the influences on Starbucks loyal customers spending. Accordingly, the same brand community is shared by the loyal customers of a company
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(Albert et al., 2001), therefore the initial respondents can help the researchers to shape the profiles of the respondents.

Question scaling:
The first question, of the perceptions of loyal customers to Starbucks logo change, uses the nominal scaling approach. The nominal scaling is perfect for Q1, for the reason that in Q1 there is a strict one-to-one relationship between the choices and the perceptions and there is no order of preference. (Churchill and Brown, 2004) Then, the second question, about the preference of novel logo or familiar one, fits into the semantic differential scale. Accordingly, this is highly supported by the characteristic of the 7-point scale -- with end points related to bipolar markers that have semantic meanings. (Hair et al., 2006) Next, the Q3, about the attitudes to three statements about Starbucks logo refinement, is suitable for the most commonly used scaling in the academic research the likert scale. And the Q3 exactly requires the participants to point out a grade of agreement or disagreement with every item about Starbucks. (Aaker et al., 2011) Finally, both Q4 (of the purchase frequency) and Q5 (of the spending) use the ordinal scale. This is because that the ordinal scale can define whether an object has more or less of a personality than others, but without the magnitude of differences. (Malhotra and Briks, 2007)

Discussions and Conclusions:

Discussions:
According to the answers of respondents, several conclusions are presented as follow. Firstly, the design of logo is crucial and has an impressive visual shock to consumers. The objective of logo is to raise consciousness about companies and to build a beneficial company image (Hem and Iversen, 2004). According to Q1 and Q2 (Figure1,2), among the 15 respondents, approximately half of them demonstrate that they are influenced because of the changed logo of Starbucks in March. However, 4 of them have not noticed the new design, which shows a low degree of awareness of Logo. However, respondents choices indicate the impact of familiarity which means people always select the familiar one between the novel and the old (Buttle and Westoby, 2006), just as the majority of respondents choose the previous Starbucks logo with the familiar typography and stars. They expressed that the words STARBUCKS are the mark of coffee.
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logo refinement and brand awareness changing

2 (13%) 6 (40%) 4 (27%) 3 (20%)
not noticed noticed and not change noticed and change noticed and not sure

(Figure 1)

tendency to new and previous starbuck logos

6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

frequency

integer

Novel (Figure 2)

familiar

Furthermore, Starbucks takes advantage of brand extension strategy to create new products, called spin-off and its sales (Keller, 1998). Brand extension decreases financial risks (Muroma and Saari, 1996) and enhance the awareness of consumers because the core brand equity (Tauber, 1981). Actually, Starbucks transforms the novel logo to stress products extension. Based on S1 and S2 of Q3, Q4 and Q5 in the survey (Figure4, 5, 6), although 40 percent of respondents are still not sure whether the peripheral products are popular or not, over 45 percent of them consider the products have a positive reputation under the novel logo. Meanwhile, almost the same number would like to consume less than 5 pounds of the extra products. Accordingly, the spin-offs have positive influence on the parent brand of Starbucks.

Consumer attitudes to some statements

9 8 7 Starbucks core product (coffee) becomes less preferred. Peripheral products (noncoffee) of Starbucks become more popular. Starbucks is still a specialized coffee provider

frequency

6 5

4
3 2 1 0

Strongly disagree

Disagree

Neither disagree or agree

Agree

Strongly agree

(Figure 4)

purchase frequency of Starbucks coffee

5

4 (27%)
4

3 (20%)
3 2

3 (20%) 2 (13%) 2 (13%) 1 (7%)

0 (0%)
0 a) b) c) Decrease Decrease 5 Decrease more than to 10 times less than 5 10 times times d) No change e) Increase f) Increase g) Increase less than 5 5 to 10 more than times times 10 times

(Figure 5)

spending of Starbucks non-coffee

e) Increase more than 10 pounds d) Increase 5 to 10 pounds c) Increase less than 5 pounds b) No change a) Decrease 0

1 (7%) 3 (20%) 6 (40%) 4 (26%) 1 (7%)

2 4 6

(Figure 6) In addition, based on S3 of Q3 (Figure4), customers are suspicious of the quality and specialization of Starbucks coffee after company stretches its operation. Customers assume that intensification of products will weaken coffee professionalization and the company would divert attention from the targeted coffee. To some certain degree, as consumers worry about, brand extension may dilute and deteriorate the core brand and damage the customer and brand equity (Aaker, 1990). In wider backgrounds, customer equity by managing the customer assets (Hogan, 2002) is a vital standard for companies to sustain competitive advantages; while brand equity is not only about goods but also a significant success driver for organizations (Berry, 2000) which include five dimensions: they are performance, value, social image, trustworthiness and commitment (Lassar, Mittal and Sharma, 1995). In the case of Starbucks, the mission statement of company is to establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles as we grow (Austin and Reavis, 2004). However, because of the extensification, it damages the previous chronic assets and breaks the commitment to the desired professionalization of customers, to some extent. These all lead to be oppugned by customers, especially the regular consumers. The misgivings of customers relate negatively to achieve objectives and profits for a blooming and renowned company.

Recommendations:
Based on the analysis of Starbucks changed logo above, some simple recommendations are provided below in allusion to the results. First of all, the loyal customers are used to the previous logo and prefer to recollect at
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beginning while new customers are just indifferent. Thus, a transitional period seems extremely significant for the regular customers; and company should also hold activities that make customers involve in. A study illustrates that though promotions and advertisements, customers have a rapid learning process to recognize new products and services (Fischer et al, 1991). Then, the customers will be habituated to the novel image of company. Secondly, among product five factors, namely quality, functions, design, brand and packaging (Keller, 1993), quality has the most significant impact on the product sales since it is the core competence of companies (Prajogo, 2007). No matter how the design and packaging changes all the time, it just has slight influence on the company. As time goes by, the customers would adapt to the new appearance. If the quality is not changed, the customer backflow would occur. Lastly, the reason for Starbucks development is the desire to transform the inherent perspectives of customers. Therefore, the Starbucks Company optimizes the production diversification and business intensification. However, on the basis of previous journal articles, it brought out doubts whether it is a commercial exploitation behavior or not. In reality, a plenty of spin-offs are created but few customers recognize them. Advertising can promote and strengthen consumer perceptions since it brings affective response directly through affecting the communication process, thus ultimately resulting in enhanced brand loyalty (Ha et al, 2011). To some sense, this would ease the negative effect on the Starbucks image.

Conclusion and Limitations:

To conclude, the study illustrates the adjustment of the problem of the impacts of Starbucks logo refinement on its loyal customers spending, by researching 15 respondents with offline questionnaires of five questions. It is seemed that the logo change may not have a visible effect on the loyal customers spending on coffee in the long term, however, their spending on Starbucks peripheral product might have a noteworthy increase. Despites, there are some limitations of the research, such as, the shortcut of generality because of the sample size, the lack of control since the snowball sampling. Meanwhile, Starbucks logo has slightly changed compared with before; the questionnaire article resources might be a little different because all the logos have huge transformations in the article resources. Thus, the results of investigation might have some relative errors.

References list:
Aaker,D.A. (1990)Brand extensions: the good, the bad, the ugly, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 47-56. Aaker, D. A. et al (2011) Marketing research, 10th edition, Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Austin, J. E. and Reavis, C. (2004) Starbucks and Conservation International, Boston: Harvard Business Press Books. Bennett W. Lance and Lagos Taso, (2007), Logo Logic: The Ups and Downs of Branded Political Communication, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 611, May, pp. 193-206. Berry, L. L. (2000) Cultivating Service Brand Equity, Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 28, No. 1, January, pp. 128-137. Bottomly, P. A. and Doyle, J. R. (2006), The interactive effect of colours and products on perception of brand logo appropriateness, Marketing Theory, Vol.6, No.1, pp. 63-83. Brewer, A. and Zhao, J. (2010), The impact of a pathway college on reputation and brand awareness for its affiliated university in Syndey, International Journal of Educational Management, Vol.24, No.1, pp.34-47. Buttle, H. and Westoby, N. (2006) Brand logo and name association: it's all in the name, Journal Home, Vol. 20, No. 9, December, pp. 1181-1194. Churchill G.A. and Brown T.J. (2004) Basic Marketing Research, 5th edition, Thomson: South-western. Fishcer et al. (1991) Brand Logo Recognition by Children Aged 3 to 6 Years, The Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 266, No. 22, pp.3145-3148. Ha, H. Y. et al. (2011), The effect of advertising spending on brand loyalty in services, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 45, No. 4, pp. 673-691. Hair J., bush r., and Ortinau D. (2006) Marketing research, 3rd edition, Irwin: McGraw-Hill Hem, L. E. and Iversen, N. M. (2004) How to Develop a Destination Brand Logo: A Qualitative and Quantitative Approach, Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, Vol. 4, No. 2, October, pp. 83-106. Hogan, J. E. (2002) Customer Equity Management: Charting New Directions for the Future of Marketing, Journal of Service Research, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp.4-12. Gates, M. (2010) Marketing research essentials, 7th edition, Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
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Keller, K. L. (1993) Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Manageing Customer-Based Brand Equity, The Journal of Marketing, Vol. 57, No. 1, January, pp.1-22. Keller, K.L. (1998) Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity, Hemel Hempstead: Prentice-Hall International. Lin, L. (2010) The relationship of consumer personality trait, brand personality and brand loyalty: an empirical study of toys and video games buyers, Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 4-17. Mininni, T. (2005), Marketing metrics and package design, Available at: www.Brandchannel.com/brand_speak.asp?bs_id=117 2007) (accessed January 17,

Malhotra N.K. and Briks D.F. (2007) Marketing research, 3rd edition, Financial Times: Prentice Hall Muroma, M. and Saari, H. (1996) Fit as a determinant of success, in Beracs, J., Baure, A. and Simon, J. (Eds), Marketing for Expanding Europe, Proceedings of 25th Annual Conference of European Marketing Academy, pp. 1953-63. Peter T. (1999) The Brand You, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Prajogo, D. I. (2007) The relationship between competitive strategies and product quality, Industrial Management & Data System, Vol. 107, No. 1, pp. 69-83. Nath, S. S. and Kumar, D. S. (2011) The effect of country of origin on brand equity: an empirical study on genetic drugs, Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp.130-140. Stanton, J.M., (1998) An empirical assessment of data collection using the internet, Personnel Psychology, vol. 51. Tauber, E.M. (1981) Brand franchise extensions: new products benefit from existing brand names, Business Horizons, Vol. 24, No.2, pp.36-41. Walsh M. F., Page, W. K. and Vikas, M. (2010), Do logo redesigns help or hurt your brand? The role of brand commitment, Journal of Product& Brand Management, Vol. 19, No. 2, pp.76-84. Walsh M. F., Page W. K. and Vikas, M. (2011), How re-designing angular logos to be rounded shapes brand attitude: consumer brand commitment and self-construal, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 28. No. 6, pp. 438-447.

Appendix I. Questionnaire
Introduction: We're a group of Surrey University students, who are currently conducting a marketing research project on whether Starbucks logo change may influence loyal customers spending on its products. This is purely a UG students group assignment, and NOT a commercial project. This survey will only take 5 minutes to complete. Your responses will remain confidential, and will not share with any third party. Your participation is absolutely voluntary. (If you are the regular customer of Starbucks, bother your little time to answer, thank you!) 1. Have you noticed that Starbucks refined its logo before this questionnaire, and, if you have, does its logo change adjust the way you perceive Starbucks?
(Source: Buttle, H. and Westoby, N. (2006) Brand Logo and Name Association: Its all in the Name, APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, Vol. 20, July, pp.1181-1194)

a) I have not noticed. b) I have noticed, and it does not change my perception. c) I have noticed, and it does change my perception. d) I have noticed, and I am not sure whether my perception changes or not.

2. To what extent do you prefer the novel logo of Starbucks or the familiar/previous one? (Please choose an integer from 1 to 7.)
(Source: Janiszewski, C and Meyvis, T. (2001) Effects of Brand Logo Complexity, Repetition, and Spacing on Processing Fluency and Judgment, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 28, No. 1, June, pp. 18-32)

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3. Indicate to what extent you agree or disagree Strongly Disagree Neither Agree Strongly disagree disagree agree with the following statements. or agree Starbucks core product (coffee) becomes less preferred. Peripheral products (non-coffee) of Starbucks become more favoured. Starbucks is still a specialized coffee provider.
(Source: Lancaster, K. (1999) The Economics of Product Variety: A Survey, Marketing Science, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 189-206)

4. How does your purchase frequency of Starbucks coffee alter with its logo change?
(Source: Macdonald, E. and Sharp, B. (1996) Management Perceptions of the Importance of Brand Awareness as an Indication of Advertising Effectiveness, Marketing Research On-Line, Vol. 1, pp.1-15)

a) b) c) d) e) f) g)

Decrease more than 10 times per week Decrease 5 to 10 times per week Decrease less than 5 times per week No change Increase less than 5 times per week Increase 5 to 10 times per week Increase more than 10 times per week

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5. How much does your spending of Starbucks non-coffee products increase or decrease in a week since its logo refinement?
(Source: Hoyer, W. D. and Brown, S. P. (1990) Effects of Brand Awareness on Choice for a Common, Repeat-Purchase Product, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 17, No. 2 September, pp. 141-148)

a) b) c) d) e)

Decrease No change Increase less than 5 pounds Increase 5 to 10 pounds Increase more than 10 pounds

Conclusion Thank you for your participation.

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Appendix II. Research Results

1. Result of question 1

attitude

not noticed

noticed and not change 3

noticed and change 6

noticed and not sure 2

total

frequency

15

2. Result of question 2

1 4 6

7 6 1

6 2 7

7 7 3

5 4 7

Novel integer frequency 1 2 2 1 3 1 4 2 5 1 6 3

Familiar 7 5

13

3. Result of question 3

Extent Frequency Statements Starbucks core product (coffee) becomes less preferred. Peripheral products (non-coffee) of Starbucks become more flavoured. Starbucks is still a specialized coffee provider Strongly disagree Disagree

Neither disagree or agree

Agree

Strongly agree

4. Result of question 4

Choices a) Decrease more than 10 times b) Decrease 5 to 10 times c) Decrease less than 5 times d) No change e) Increase less than 5 times f) Increase 5 to 10 times

frequency 0 3 3 4 2 2 1 15

g) Increase more than 10 times total

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5. Result of question 5

choices a) Decrease b) No change c) Increase less than 5 pounds d) Increase 5 to 10 pounds e) Increase more than 10 pounds Total

frequency 1 4 6 3 1 15

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Appendix III. Analysis of Results

Question 1

logo refinement and brand awareness changing

2 (13%) 6 (40%) 4 (27%) 3 (20%)
not noticed noticed and not change noticed and change noticed and not sure

(Figure 1)

Question 2

tendency to new and previous starbuck logos

6 5 4 3 2

frequency

1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

intege

Novel

familiar (Figure 2)
16

mean 4.87

mode 7

median 6 (Figure 3)

Question 3

Consumer attitudes to some statements

9 8 7 Starbucks core product (coffee) becomes less preferred. Peripheral products (noncoffee) of Starbucks become more popular. Starbucks is still a specialized coffee provider

frequency

5 4 3 2 1 0 Strongly disagree Disagree Neither disagree or agree Agree Strongly agree

(Figure 4)

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Question 4

purchase frequency of Starbucks coffee

5 4 3 2 1 0 a) Decrease b) Decrease c) Decrease more than 10 5 to 10 times less than 5 times times d) No change e) Increase f) Increase g) Increase less than 5 5 to 10 times more than 10 times times

4 (27%) 3 (20%) 3 (20%) 2 (13%) 0 (0%) 2 (13%) 1 (7%)

(Figure 5)

Question 5

spending of Starbucks non-coffee

e) Increase more than 10 pounds d) Increase 5 to 10 pounds c) Increase less than 5 pounds b) No change a) Decrease 0

1 (7%) 3 (20%) 6 (40%) 4 (26%) 1 (7%)

2 4 6

(Figure 6)
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Appendix IV. Original Journal

Elaine Wong, Forbes Staff + Follow 1/06/2011 @ 4:05PM |22,817 views

Starbucks' Logo Change Likely To Follow In The Footsteps Of Gap? + Comment now The social media space has been brewing with public dissent over Starbucks logo change. The company, which doesnt want to be known for selling just coffee anymore, yesterday announced it was dropping the words Starbucks Coffee from its famous, circular green logo. In its place will be Starbucks mermaid, or Siren icon (see image below), which will have prominent and bigger placement on the companys drink cups and cup sleeves. Most of the work was done in house, though Starbucks also brought in design studio Lippincott for counsel, the company says. The change follows a larger move by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz to move the Seattle, Washington-based company beyond coffee. This summer, Starbucks put more marketing muscle behind its icy cool Frappuccinos to help grow sales of the drink in the afternoon daypart. The chain has also aggressively expanded distribution of its next billion-dollarhopefulsoluble instant coffee brand Viain retail and grocery channels and its brought back

breakfast sandwiches to its stores. Consumers, though, arent happy. Some of the coffee chains most passionate fans are disgruntled, to say the least.
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Fans of Starbucks Facebook page, which boasts 19 million-plus followers, are seething with displeasure. The most mild-mannered of these posts have described the new logo as tacky and unprofessional. Writes one Facebook user, Jason Bayon: If it aint broke, leave it the f-alone! Others say dropping the word Coffee from the logo wouldve been enough. Still others, like Facebook-er Julie Qiu, expressed no relationship with the mermaid. She exuded no personality and little energy. I personally love the typography and stars. When I was traveling around the world, the bold green text made me feel like i was home away from home, she wrote in a wall post earlier today. The backlash also eeked its way onto Starbucks blog page. At 10:39 A.M. yesterday, one commenter, MimiKatz, wrote: Whos the bonehead in your marketing department that removed the world-famous name of Starbucks Coffee from your new logo? This gold card user isnt impressed! (Ouch.) Starbucks logo change comes about three months after clothing retailer Gap Inc.s rebranding fiasco. In that incident, the company tweaked the design from its classic, blueand-white lettering to one that sported a simpler Helvetica font. Consumers, outraged, ignited a social media storm, Gap responded by crowdsourcing the design and then ultimately pulled the plug on its own experiment and reverted back to the old logo. Experts, too, cant help but wonder if Starbucks might follow in Gaps footsteps. After all, recent packaging changes, such as PepsiCos modification of its Tropicana juice cartonyou know, the one with the orange and the straw sticking out?havent been well received. Plus, branding experts like James Gregory of consultancy CoreBrand believe that dropping the Starbucks name from their logo will only serve to confuse consumers who are not as familiar with the company. Nor is it clear, at this point, if Starbucks has earned that right, say Peter Clarke and Wendy Church, brand strategists at creative agency Product Ventures. Its nice as designers to see the trend continue towards simplistic and clean design, as simplicity is powerful and certainly here to stay, the two wrote in an e-mail. But the question becomes, Will the Siren alone without the typeface of Starbucks continue to be recognized over time? Clarke also asked. Starbucks, at moment, is keeping its cool. And perhaps rightly so. The company posted a detailed blog post and video from its CEO, Schultz, communicating the changes yesterday. It also previously tested the new logo with consumers. Its lead agency, Omnicom Group-owned BBDO, New York, will also introduce a campaign announcing the new logo, which breaks later this spring. Asked about consumers hyped up response to the rollout, company spokeswoman Deb Trevino says Starbucks is excited that so many of our customers are so passionate about the brand that they want to comment on it and engage with us. This was made for business reasons. It was a strategic decision for us to accommodate our growing business, she says of Starbucks sticking by its decision.
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Mike Arauz, a strategist at digital shop Undercurrent, says Starbucks firm approach could end up hurting it. Gap rolled out its logo change in digital format only, allowing for quick and easy modification, but it was also openly perceptive to consumers negative response. In being fairly committedi.e. sticking to its gunsStarbucks may turn off some consumers, Arauz says. Starbucks, though, is quick to point out that some amount of backlash will usually accompany a change. Change, after all, takes some time to accept. For some consumers, however, a cup of joe is still a cup of joe. Such was the case at the New York City Astor Place Starbucks location this afternoon. Several patrons were in the dark when informed about Starbucks new logo. One such customer, Kristin Palbicke, a New York University graduate student who was enjoying her drink while typing on her laptop, says quite frankly, it doesnt matter. Palbicke, who is studying public health, says she is quite indifferent to the change. The one red flag she raised was whether consumers would still recognize it. Michael Goldberg, a former NYU student who is now a filmmaker, says that shouldnt be a cause for concern. Goldberg, who hails from Oregon, points out that marketers such as Nike, for instance, have dropped its name from its company logo, leaving only the swoosh, and yet, consumers still recognize it. In all honesty, it doesnt matter. Everyone knows Starbucks. Everyone knows the mermaid, he says, glancing up from his book before going back to enjoy his cup of coffeeStarbucks coffee, that is. P.S. Per ZURB, an interaction design and strategy agency, 70 percent of consumers surveyed prefer Starbucks old logo. Readers, what do you think? Would Starbucks have been better off sticking with its current design? Let us know your thoughts! Were on Twitter @elainewong85 and @ForbesCMO. Update (1/9/2011): A subsequent survey compiled by ZURB found that 72 percent of consumers actually hate the new logo. The agency polled 258 consumers over a period of 12 hours. Supporters of the old logo say its iconic, recognizable and conveys more meaning while those whove embraced the new one did so for its simplicity, clarity and design elements.

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