Starbucks: Debranding

In an effort to go back to their original company manifesto of being a funky indie coffeeshop, Starbucks is set to open one of three unbranded stores in the chain's birthplace of Seattle. The first - to be called 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea - will serve alcohol, stock unbranded coffee and have space for running poetry evenings and open mic nights.

All is an experiment by head office to debrand and deglobalize... the question is why.

Pedestrian traffic has been down for Starbucks since the recession hit, and consumer tastes are changing to be more receptive to something that supports both the local community and the environment instead of a tie in with Chapters Indigo.

Head office's turn back to the funk is proving to be a hilarious Office Space esque quest for "flare". An excerpt from the Seattle Times:

'Sebastian Simsch, co-owner of Seattle Coffee Works near Pike Place Market, became frustrated last year after large groups of Starbucks employees kept crowding into his 300-square-foot store to look around. "I thought it was funny," he said. "We're this little store, and I thought Starbucks didn't need to learn from me."

During the third group's visit, Simsch let them know what he thought. "I said, 'If you want to buy something that's great, but just to look, that's not cool,' " he recounted. "I called the PR department and said, 'Never again.' " They did not come back, even after he moved into a much larger store next door.

Victrola Coffee Roasters saw the Starbucks people a lot more often. "They spent the last 12 months in our store up on 15th [Avenue] with these obnoxious folders that said, 'Observation,' " said Victrola owner Dan Ollis.

He thinks it's interesting that they spent all that time in his shop, which serves wine and beer, then applied for a liquor license to sell wine and beer at 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea.'

How's about leaving the local business to the local businesses and spending the debranding money and research on improving the existing brand instead? Consumers are well aware of being marketed to. If you want to appear more environmentally friendly, Starbucks, then let's try and do it properly. Have you heard of these?



Let's get them in your stores. I assure you that the public will be much more receptive to this than a weekly poetry reading.

And on the poetry reading rant, why don't we lift up our sleeves and move some chairs and use those funky chalkboards in your existing spaces to do so? Did we really need to print up "Observation binders" to think of this?

I am fully supportive of the debranding if it leads to more environmentally friendly rebranding of all Starbucks. For that, I say debrand away. Unfortunately, I don't believe the heart in this scenerio. Debranding in order to rebrand as being quirky and independent is only a scheme to be making more money and paving the way to exactly the same corporate trap they found themselves fall into in the first place. It's the Britney Spears syndrome. They won't be able to help themselves.


To see the Seattle Times article, click here.
Also, a great article from Marketing Mag here.

What to do with your wall of stank

With the City of Toronto finally reaching an agreement on the four week, 36 day garbage strike, as of next week Torontonians can kick it to the curbside once more.

Unfortunately, rumors are that part of the agreement is for households to only put out one garbage bin at a time, so additional recycling goods and garbage stores that have already become a treasured part of your Stank Family across the last month could still remain a house guest for at least another 3 weeks, yippee!

The question is what to do with your wall of stank...

Lucky for us we have Paris resident and sculpteur du papier extraordinaire JUNIOR JACQUET, who likes to transform left over toilet paper rolls into sculptures of faces:



Perhaps one could create a porch full of angry toilet paper roll faces for when the eventual collection does occur??
Just sayin'...

More on Junior Jacquet here.

Social Networking Site: Hunch

So Twitter is gradually taking North America by storm, Facebook is still on the up and up, Myspace is the pimply teenager no one wants to dance with and Spotify is the cool kid who won't even go to the dance [come to Canada. Come on, Spotify! We wear spandex].

Next up is Flickr's Hunch, a decision based think tank all about you. Yes, someone's actually managed to take the narcissism of Facebook, the nihilistic broadcast capabilities of Twitter and combined it all together to help you make real life decisions about yourself. First, you need to Teach Hunch About You, a section of the site that asks you multiple choice questions centred around numerous scenarios. i.e. "Do you rent or own your own home?" or "In how many languages (including your native language) could you call a restaurant and make a reservation?"

From these options, Hunch begins to filter a think tank profile of what type of person you are and how you are most likely to make decisions. It may seem a bit too "Have you ever?" for some social networkers, but Hunch allows the glorified "Skip This Question" option for topics you may be out to lunch on, or simply don't want to answer.

From there, you can go on to post a Topic - either a decision you're needing help on, i.e. "Should I visit Europe?" or to partake in someone else's Topic, i.e. "Should I eat cheese or wine for breakfast?". Hunch will provide you with YOUR results and include you in a percentage of others who have taken the same Topic quiz. Of course, there's a Pros & Cons section underneath your topic results so that GirlySqueal92 can post "I got wine! LOL ROTFL!" But hey, this is social networking after all, and GirlySqueal92 needs her vent space.

Much like a bicycle the more you ride it the easier it gets. The more you Hunch, the more accurate their decision results will be for you. Nobody wants a rusty Hunch, so get on it!

Exciting times for internet evolution. Dare we say we've reached the po-mo era of networking sites? Good one Flickr! We got a hunch you'll like it! Ho! Hee! Someone had to go there.

Hunch it here.

Helvetica!

On a recent visit to London's Design Museum [which if you're ever planning on visiting, don't. Save your £8.50 and go to the gift shop instead], a friend of mine and I agreed that the only thing remotely exciting about the museum were the stark white walls with occasional directions painted in gigantic, Helvetican text. "WOMEN'S" was definitely a fave, as was "EXIT".

Even though that was the most exciting part about the museum, I couldn't help but feel that that was also the most dated. Negative space has been huge in graphic design across the last 10 years; minimalist styles always seem to go hand in hand with some sort of Helvetica Bold / Helvetica Neue / Helvetica Neue Black Condensed / Neue Bold Condensed combo. Helvetica essentially is the Starbucks of the font families. Uber trendy, functional and would probably own a home in the Beaches if it could afford one, you can order your Venti Helvetica Neue Ultra Light, and bold it if you're feeling a little bit on the gluttonous side. But one has to ask, with over fifty years of use, when will Helvetica be done with being the trendy trend?

So far there are no signs of the font slowing down [the signs written in Helvetica themselves], so we might as well give in to the celebration. Our own TA2 logo is in Helvetica [shames, shames], I've also named my first born after the font*, and the truth is is that there just ain't a font out there as purty.

* I'm lying a terrible lie, but Helvetica Fletcher does have a certain ring to it.



So here goes the celebration of Helvetica! Because without it, the Design Museum would just have white walls [which wouldn't be a bad thing, considering the rest of their exhibits]:



Lars Muller's 2005 book on the typeface showcases over 400 uses of the font. For more info, click here.



Gary Hustwit's feature length documentary coincided with the 50th anniversary of the font in 2007. Learn more here.


Photo of the Design Museum from The Curated Object.

LOOKBOOK

I gotta admit, I love Mos Def. There's a little Mos Def shaped hole in my heart that beats everytime I hear Black on Both Sides, even if the album is almost ten years old.
I'm old.
Fear Not of Man is the opening track, and Def weaves in the beats with this beautiful prose:

"You know what's gonna happen with Hip-Hop?
Whatever's happening with us
If we smoked out, Hip-Hop is gonna be smoked out
If we doin alright, Hip-Hop is gonna be doin alright
People talk about Hip-Hop like it's some giant livin in the hillside
comin down to visit the townspeople
We are Hip-Hop
Me, you, everybody, we are Hip-Hop
So Hip-Hop is goin where we goin
So the next time you ask yourself where Hip-Hop is goin
ask yourself.. where am I goin? How am I doin?"

Too poignant for a post on fashion?



LOOKBOOK delivers Mos' prose in fashion form. Instead of leaving fashion to the Anna Wintours of the world, Lookbook users post their fashion finds and inspirations to spread the all-you-can-see buffet of user generated couture.

So the next time you ask yourself where fashion is goin
ask yourself.. where am I goin? How am I doin?
[And go to Lookbook for a slice of idea pie]

Reassuring words for Hipsters who feared their postmodern tailoring had sewn its last thread.

For more on Lookbook, click here.
For full outfit details on image above, click here.

Volunteer on your Cell Phone

I have to admit, I'm a terribly selfish volunteer. Last year I had the grandiose idea of becoming a Big Sister, until I realized that my 9-5+ schedule would not work out with my future Little Sister's 3 PM after school program. A brief brush with becoming a kitten feeder at The Humane Society followed [Sundays? Thursdays?], as did contemplating being Saturday staff at St. Michael's Hospital, but apart from all my thought-that-counts volunteering, that's as far as I made it. The thought.

For those having similarly pressing schedules and an unshakable desire to volunteer, The Extraordinaries have devised a program that can suit all volunteer time constraints. Through what they refer to as "micro volunteer opportunities", you can now volunteer for many organizations simply by using your cell phone. [And no, peanut gallery, not to make the call!]

How would you like to identify craters on the surface of Mars for NASA? Or tagging images for the Smithsonian? Or fact checking items for reporters on the run? If you have a smartphone and a pocket of time [waiting for the bus / a client approval / an internet upload / parking space], it's possible.

The Extraordinaries

View more presentations from benrigby. (tags: extraordinaries spare)

For more on The Extraordinaries, click here. Hats off to all the volunteers who do find the time.

One Flag, One World

You gotta love the anti-culture kids at Adbusters. Their most recent project is One Flag - a design competition inviting participants to develop a flag - One Flag, if you will - that will lead the world ahead on a collective mission of... Oneness? Says Adbusters: "We invite you to create a flag – free from language and well-worn clichés – that embodies the idea of global citizenship".

They go on. "We are now faced with some of the most daunting global challenges in human history... These are real targets, worthy of our problem-solving skills, ripe for our intervention. Yet those who have the vision to rise above national and political boundaries still have no symbol to rally under."

But of course, a flag will help us!



Adbusters is currently showcasing the shortlist of 32 One Flags that you can view and vote for here.

My pick is The Eternal Round, created by Vikki Miller of Scotland, who encourages One Flaggers to make their own flags from their sheets, fabrics and scraps to the provided pattern. Says Miller, "Don’t let people take the easy option: flying their flag while watching TV. Have them working, constructing and crafting, and they will appreciate their relationship to planet earth a lot more."

Yes, yes, yes! Revolution we can sew. And if you get cold when mobbing, the flag can double up as a blanket.

Needless to say, my flag design didn't make the shortlist:



Next year, perhaps.

Please don't Kiss Me in 3D!

So I know it seems like I only write about saucy avatars who can live on your desk top, but we are just 9 days away from Valentine's Day, and Crest has decided to give us Fernando so that we all learn the value of whiter teeth. Oh, and 3-D glasses.
Huh?

Digitas along with production co Luxurious Animals have designed two online avatars for Crest who will kiss you in three dimensional form. Pick from either Olivia or Fernando, slip on your 3-D glasses [that you have to buy yourself!] and get ready to be smooched over the computer screen. After kissing you in a variety of steamy ways, Olivia and/or Fernando then stop the virtual make out session to [surprise!] remove Crest whitestrips from their teeth. The moral of the story then kids, is that you can do just about anything when wearing Crest whitestrips. It's just like a tampon commercial, but for your teeth!

Um, so... I'm trying to figure out how buying 3-D glasses and kissing an on screen Spanish avatar is going to make me want whiter teeth. I guess Fernando's Spanish accent is meant to make us blog girls get a little flustered and never want to spend time with our real boyfriends but I sort of feel like if I did actually make out with a boy in the real world who proceeded to remove a set of whitestrips from his teeth post tonsil hockey, Spanish or not, I may end up barfing in my own mouth a little bit. Would Crest be happy if the barf was white? Let's wait until next Valentine's Day to find out.

Poor show, avatar. What is the point of you?

Alas, for the curious I must leave a link. To be kissed in 3-D, click here.