Starbucks Siren: Iconic Enough to Stand Alone?

Howard Schultz today unveiled the new Starbucks visual identity (photo above) in a corporate blog entitled Looking Forward to Starbucks Next Chapter.

Throughout the last four decades, the Siren has been there through it all. And now, we’ve given her a small but meaningful update to ensure that the Starbucks brand continues to embrace our heritage in ways that are true to our core values and that also ensure we remain relevant and poised for future growth.

I understand the desire to open up the brand to give “Starbucks Coffee” the flexibility to expand its business beyond coffee, but why not leave the name “Starbucks” and drop “Coffee” from the logo for this new/next iteration.

I feel like the company went too far, too fast.

In terms of the brand hierarchy, I would say the Siren is only the third most important — or iconic — aspect of the company’s visual identity. I think it ranks behind the name Starbucks and the logo’s unmistakable shade of green.

While I like the modern “update” they’ve made to the Siren, and understand the desire to have it stand on its own as an icon, I think it still needs to be scaffolded by the Starbucks name for the time being.

It’s not a strong enough mark yet to stand out, stand alone, or stand in for the Starbucks brand.

What do you think? Is the Starbucks Siren iconic enough to stand alone?
-Matthew DiGirolamo, Cause Catalysts
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