At the time, offering specialty coffee drinks at Starbucks felt like a big step beyond beans. Would it risk
hard-won brand equity or create opportunity? Would it support multiple locations? The answers created a cultural phenomenon.
Starbucks called on Heckler Associates to consult on the positioning of
brand extensions and to design distinctive packaging and in-store promotional
pieces to introduce them to customers.
At first, Starbucks sold only coffee, tea, spices and brewing machines. It was a real connoisseur's shop and it reflected owner Gordon Bowker's passion for coffee. Heckler Associates developed a package design based on a cigar band and it became a distinctive but easy-to-implement brand extension system. The band was utilized in the store interior design as well for the first five years Starbucks operated.
As the selection of coffee beans grew, we looked for ways to help customers appreciate the differences of each kind. We recommended creating more interesting blend names and distinctive stamp stickers that evoked the country of origin and nuances of flavor.
Gordon wrote emotionally inspired copy for all our work: packaging design, collateral material, merchandising and advertising. He educated everyone—the whole team as well as customers—about the world of whole bean coffee, the full body roast we called "Full City," and his reverence for freshness.
Today, it's hard to imagine that no beverages were sold in the early Starbucks stores. The only coffee actually brewed at the original Starbucks was for staff and those customers who absolutely insisted on sampling a new roast before buying beans. It was a scramble to keep clean cups around.
The idea of beverages did not take hold until Howard Schultz was hired as a marketing manager. You can read Howard's book Pour Your Heart Into It to get the full story. In truth, there was quite a bit of resistance to the concept of Starbucks selling beverages. But Howard was such a driving force that the owners decided he would run the beverage business as a separate brand—Il Giornale.
Gordon came up with the concept of Il Giornale which is also the name of a regional newspaper in Italy. The store sold the Italian daily alongside The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Seattle Times. But the expensive import never developed a strong readership and was soon replaced by a new local paper The Seattle Weekly for which Heckler Associates had created the original signature and newspaper format design.
We did all the communication work on Il Giornale, developing a logo based on Mercury for the obvious association with speed—both in delivery of product and the product's effect. Our original marketing program for Il Giornale featured "Mercury Man" and was designed to create buzz. Mercury Man walked the early morning streets of Seattle giving passersby cups of free, hot Il Giornale coffee poured out from his canteen backpack. The cups, designed with great brand presence, functioned like mini-billboards bobbing down the street. Giving away product was a tremendous investment, but the return in goodwill and brand exposure was even greater. And, traffic in the stores went up.
When Starbucks reached a whopping eight store locations in Seattle, the consensus was that the market was saturated. So, Starbucks opened locations in neighboring cities such as Edmonds and Bellevue. The big surprise came in Vancouver, B.C. the first time the company had the chance to open a new Starbucks directly across the street from an existing Starbucks. They took on the new space as an experiment and quickly both stores were running to capacity. Busy residents of the facing, multi-story buildings enjoyed the convenience of not having to cross the street to get their favorite cup of coffee—and a whole new world opened up for Starbucks expansion.
The original goal of Starbucks initial restaurant program was to earn high-end credibility by getting Starbucks coffee served in the best restaurants in town—but it had to be done by word-of-mouth among the chefs. As the Starbucks brand became better known in Seattle, the public began to look for the sign "We Proudly Serve Starbucks Coffee" at their favorite restaurants. The program grew and quality control emerged as a concern. To help protect Starbucks brand equity, we suggested that the message be changed to "We Proudly Brew Starbucks Coffee."
Over the years, Starbucks addressed other market opportunities in ways that preserved brand equity. To enter the wholesale bean market without jeopardizing retail store business, they created the Blue Anchor brand that was sold in grocery stores. After Blue Anchor came the Caravalli brand that served the wholesale channel. Each brand was eventually sold to capitalize Starbucks retail store expansion.