Starbucks started selling coffee in 1971. The logo change marks the 4th change to its logo.
The Starbucks logo and its signature siren are getting a makeover.
The largest coffee company in the world revealed its new logo Wednesday. It drops the company brand name that surrounds the sea maiden icon and incorporates a few other small changes, including a milder green tone, removing the black background. The makeover gives her an updated and smoother look.
This marks the fourth time in its history the logo has changed. In 1971, Starbucks started selling coffee in Seattle featuring a brown siren featuring the marks “Starbucks Coffee and Tea.” The logo was changed to green in 1987 when handcrafted expresso’s were added to the menu with “and Tea” removed. Starbucks became a publicly traded company in 1992 with the siren only showing her face, crown and hair.
“Throughout the last four decades, the Siren has been there through it all. And now, we’ve given her a small but meaningful update,” wrote Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz in an online statement.
Starbucks said the update was merely a cosmetic refresh of the company’s well-known logo. The new logo coincides with a new strategy for the coffee company, which is looking to regroup after the toughest period in its 40-year history.
Many already recognize the image to the brand name and Starbucks wants consumers thinking past coffee. The rebranding strategy will allow the company to focus beyond coffee products as it moves into grocery stores.
Earlier versions of the Starbucks logo helped build the company into one of the best-known brands in the world, and the company felt it was no longer necessary to keep the company’s name on the logo. Taking the word “coffee” off the logo also helps the company as it works to expand into more international markets. There are already 400 Starbucks stores in China, and the company plans to add hundreds more.
“Starbucks is fundamentally selling an experience,” said John Quelch, a marketing professor at Harvard Business School, “but by no means is coffee the only part of the experience. It is important that they not have a logo that is too confining.”
The company officially unveiled the logo Wednesday during a ceremony at its Seattle offices that was broadcast over the Internet. The logo will start appearing in stores in March when the company marks its 40th anniversary.
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