Brand strategy

Whole bean coffee has an important relationship to the Starbucks brand. This category gives Starbucks credibility in coffee and is vital to positioning the company as a coffee pioneer and leader. Whole bean coffee was the original product sold at Starbucks in 1971 and has been part of the company’s name since the beginning, originally Starbucks Coffee Tea Spices. Coffee Passion is one of Starbucks five brand differentiators, drawn from the company’s long history of roasting and blending beans.

To articulate the importance of whole bean coffee, I helped craft Starbucks whole bean positioning statement. With new positioning in place, it was time to look at how well Starbucks communicated Coffee Passion.

A good starting point was Starbucks core coffee packaging. At the time, each offering in the grocery aisle had a white bag with boiler-plate copy and little variation to help customers recognize the different blends and roasts, or understand which one was right for their needs and tastes. The design lacked humanity, artistry, and storytelling. It did very little to signal Starbucks coffee expertise.

We took the straight-forward and somewhat generic packaging on the left and transformed it into something richer and more artful on the right. We also seized the opportunity to tell each coffee’s story, balancing two important aspects: why the coffee matters to Starbucks, and what’s in it for you. We showcased Starbucks coffee passion and expertise through the romance of storytelling and design. Below is the copy I wrote for Starbucks French Roast.

I crafted the following story for Starbucks Sumatra coffee. The challenge: capture the uniqueness and historical importance of this coffee. To write the story I interviewed master roasters and blenders, cupped the coffee with them, and unearthed stories that captured their coffee passion and expertise.

Below is the copy I wrote for Willow Blend.