Starbucks' unbranding strategy and the 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea case

¶ … unbranding, which is essentially a strategy used by contemporary companies that have grown to carry some negative stereotypes with their typical branded image. As consumers get more and more cynical of those stereotypes and stigmas, it has been found that some respond better to unbranded marketing strategies, and in the case of Starbucks new locations that do not carry the Starbucks name. To re-invoke the sense of the neighborhood coffee shop and loose the image of the global conglomerate, Starbucks has changed its operational communications in terms of opening up new locations not under the well-known and Starbucks brand. Returning to Seattle, the company's birthplace. Starbucks has begun to launch new locations not under the globally branded name. 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea is one of the first unbranded locations that is aiming to generate its own brand identity and buzz that resembles a smaller mom and pop shop style coffee house, rather than the massive brand that is Starbucks.

Strengths

There are a number of strong points Matos (2010) addresses within the article. First, she provides a very thorough discussion about the act of unbranding, as it is a relatively loose and confusing term to the untrained professional. She is clear to discuss what it is and how many major companies have used it to address rising concerns about stigmas over their more diluted brand image. This makes it flow easily into the Starbucks case study and why the company would be choosing such a strategy. Moreover, the article presents a step-by-step guide to how many of these companies have begun the process of unbranding. This helps connect the recent actions of Starbucks to the concept and further aligns it with the topic proposal presented in my research. Finally, the research connects the concept of brand diluting to the move to establish Starbucks within massive grocery retail chains across the country. Although this was a profitable move for the company, Matos shows how this directly impacted the brand image in some of its more cynical consumers, who would rather enjoy a small coffee house atmosphere. The mainstream image that was further connected with branding and sales in grocery markets only further isolated this consumer group and called for a new unbranding strategy to recapture them.

Proposal Relevance

Starbucks has been dramatically changing a number of its messages, both internally to the organization and externally towards to the consumer in recent years as competition within the industry continues to grow stronger and stronger. The article reviewed here illustrates one of the main methods of change in the communicative branding strategy within the recent marketing campaigns. As stated in my proposal, Starbucks has commenced certain changes because of the fact that it has diluted the value of its brand name. New branding strategies where locations are being opened up in an unbranded format shows how Starbucks is trying to address the problem at hand. Matos (2010) shows how the company is trying to regain some of its more cynical consumers through opening up smaller unbranded coffee shops that do not carry with them the stigma and stereotype of the brand of Starbucks.