“Care more than others think wise.
Risk more than others think safe.
Dream more than others think practical.
Expect more than others think possible.”
– Howard Shultz, CEO Starbucks
A few weeks ago, we talked about the unique ability of market leaders to see past what their customers can see. It is market leaders that, when asked, “Why fix it if it ain’t broken?” respond with, “because I see the cracks that you can’t see”.
Starbucks debuted a new logo several days ago, and the announcement was not without its naysayers. Customers and marketing pundits alike criticized the company for the new design and the decision to change it at all. Discussion boards lit up with questions and comments: “I think this new logo is a bad decision”, “Why is it that when a company has any kind of milestone (good or bad), their executives feel it is necessary to mess with the company logo?” or “Why must companies feel compelled to tinker with what is already working?”
Granted, consumers may still be bruised from recent faux pas when it comes to abrupt logo changes. In October, Gap changed their 20 year old logo and customers found out the next morning when they logged into the website; no prior announcement, no preparation, nothing. After more than 7,000 impassioned and angry customers complained on Facebook and across media outlets, the company retracted and reverted back to the old logo.
Starbucks, on the other hand, has subtly lead customers to this point of change. It’s like the frog in a boiling pot of water. If you drop him in at once with the water already boiling, he’s going to jump right out (thank you, Gap). If you drop him into lukewarm water and slowly increase the temperature, you’ll have a nice pot of stew for dinner.
Historically, Shultz has closely protected the brand he worked so hard to build. After expansion threatened Starbucks in 2008 and 2009, he stepped back into leadership, scrapped new location builds, strengthened existing stores, rolled out new store designs and slowly introduced customers to a new idea of a Starbucks experience, one broader than “coffee shop”. In his video announcing the change, Shultz says of the logo redesign: “We’ve allowed her to come out of the circle in a way that I think gives us the freedom and flexibility to think beyond coffee”. This change allows Starbucks to stretch, breathe and move towards the untapped markets they’ve been planning for long before the logo redesign was announced.
It takes courage for a company to make a change like this. But when the change is managed responsibly, like this example, customers eventually see that the change is just another logical step in the process towards growth, towards delivering the solutions and fixing the cracks that the market doesn’t have eyes to see today.
Fifteen years ago in Pour Your Heart Into It, Shultz identified one of the values that remains a backbone of the brand today:
“When things are going well, when the fans are cheering, why change a winning formula? The simple answer is this: Because the world is changing. Every year, customers’ needs and tastes change. The competition heats up. Employees change. Managers change. Shareholders change. Nothing can stay the same forever, in business or in life, and counting on the status quo can only lead to grief.”
If you’re going to be a market leader, you can’t move forward with your eyes fixed on the rearview mirror. If instead, you focus on untapped opportunities, you’ll be able to gently guide customers to a place where they cautiously release their white knuckled grip on the way things “were” or “are”, and partake in the change as the company proves that “new” is better.
“See”, you’ll say, “that wasn’t so bad, now, was it?”
And they will agree.
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Business: What the Doctor Ordered 