Thursday, July 16, 2009

Hide and Seek?

When a company's brand 'jumps the shark' what do they do? One can argue that Starbucks is one such brand. Howard Shultz's goal of becoming the third place and becoming ubiquitous with coffee has largely been a success. But the world changes and growth is stifled when your brand is scorned where you're trying to open new markets.

Is this why Starbucks is trying a new concept? In this Seattle Times article, it's reported that Starbuck will open a redesigned store called 15th Avenue Coffee & Tea. It's hard to tell if this is simply a new product line or if the venerable coffee giant is hiding it's brand because it is no longer welcome in certain locales.