Unbranding, Which Is Essentially a Strategy Used

¶ … 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.

Weaknesses

However, there are also some weaknesses presented here in the research that could be addressed in order to make Matos' argument stronger. The first is that there is no empirical research to further draw upon conclusions. The study is a case study, where the literature and published operational changes are examined in detail, but without any sort of statistical evaluation. In order to strengthen Matos' illustration of why Starbucks is rebranding itself, it would have been nice to have some data showing how consumers were responding well to the 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea location. Secondly, the research does not follow up on the success of 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea. It states that the location opened, but there is little information in retrospect regarding how the location is faring in comparison to other Starbucks locations. Finally, the article glosses over the fact that Starbucks products are still sold in the 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea location. Packaged coffees, foods, and candies with the Starbucks name are present, but the research fails to go into depth about how that may have affected the new brand of the location.

Proposal Relevance