brand: starbucks

well-branded ad

starbucks

So, I misunderstood this assignment and went off on a tangent about good branding. You can see that tangent below. This ad captures the Starbucks brand well. We can see all the elements that I outlined below, the color green, they use the logo font, the logo is present in the corner, and the ad itself is written on a coffee bag, which conveys that Starbucks knows about their beans. This whole ad campaign is about the idea that Starbucks is necessary,

better than any other coffee,

and frankly, perfect. This, however, doesn't make Starbucks look any less pretentious (which is something they are often made fun of for by their competitors), but maybe that's the point. If you don't buy Starbucks, you just don't get it. I feel more that way about small, independent coffee shops. So there STARBUCKS.

good branding

even green is associated with starbucks now

I'm from Seattle, so as you can imagine, Starbucks has had a presence in my life as long as I can remember. This was especially true because my dad owned his own coffee stands and therefore detested Starbucks. While I will say that Seattle is full of FAR superior coffee places, I don't know much about their branding, and most of them are small operations rather than global corporations. So Dad, whilst I would love to talk about the branding of a small, independent espresso place, I'm gonna have to go with Starbucks, because really, they have an excellent brand.

logo: Their logo is balanced, symmetrical, and simple. It is a good shape for the container that holds the product that they peddle, coffee cups, and is versatile for a variety of other products and in packaging.

coffee cups!

color choice: I am generally not a fan of the green that Starbucks selected for their brand, but it is bold, and it works for them. This green is so effective, I associate it with Starbucks even when I'm not supposed to. They own this green like Coke owns red and AT&T owns that nice light blue they use. And it's consistent throughout: They use it in their logo, on their storefronts, packaging, and even their aprons and hats for their employees.

apron!

font choice: Starbucks went with a bold, all caps, sans serif font that is now easily identifiable as Starbucks's font. Some of their products don't even need the logo itself (and in some cases the green color), because this all caps font is so recognizable as theirs.

store front!

All in all, just very successful branding. And now, I will go get my second double mocha of the day. I wish I was joking.