Starbucks announced it is going to stop selling heated sandwiches as the smell interferes with the scent of the coffee.

Gutsy move. Killing a significant cash contributor in the name of experience takes moxie. But it is the right thing to do if Starbucks wants to truly focus on what has been deemed important to the core of the brand.

Howard and the Starbucks team are following what I dubbed the "Aroma First" Rule.

I made this recommendation almost a year ago during a volley of posts entitled "Solving Starbucks Problems: One Post at a Time." This was a collaboration between John Moore at Brand Autopsy and myself to help Starbucks address concerns Howard Schultz had personally highlighted.

Here's what I outlined in my post...

Create and Strictly Follow an "Aroma First" Rule

Since coffee is Starbucks core, and scent is the strongest cue for our senses - make aroma the highest priority. (Yes, even more important than perceived increased sales). Maintain Howard's original desire to preserve aroma and implement an "Aroma First" rule. It's simple, for every decision; ask, "Is this going to negatively affect aroma in any way?" If the answer is "yes" do not do it...

Let's use the "Aroma First" rule to review previous decisions and some new ideas...

The Aroma First tool provides a guide to fix old problems, and prevent new ones.

Here are the links if you want to read more of the Solving Starbucks Problems series. It addresses all five of the challenges Howard identified.

• 1. Loss of Theater - My post | John's reply
  
• 2. Loss of Aroma - John's post | My reply
  
• 3. Loss of Store Soul - My post | John's reply
  
• 4. Lack of Merchandise Focus - John's post | My reply
  
• 5. Loss of Identity - My post | John's reply

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categorized as BRAND BUILDING > brand guardrails

Starbucks is going to stop selling heated breakfast sandwiches because the smell of the food competes with the scent of the coffee.

That's a gutsy move. After all, it has taken Starbucks years and investment to figure out a strategy and product to help provide protein foods versus just sweets and pastries during the morning daypart.

Parity & Convenience
Starbucks was smart enough to know that as coffee quality increases at their competitors, at some point customers begin to perceive parity and think, "eh, what's the difference?" Instead of making a trip to Starbucks (for coffee) AND the competitor (for their McMuffin or other breakfast item), why not just get them both at the competitor's place?

So they developed and offered a warm breakfast item.

Yet, all along Starbucks knew the benefit of convenience was at the cost of losing what was left of any coffee aroma in the stores.

The scent of brewing and ground coffee used to be part of the experience of walking into a Starbucks. Nowadays with the coffee being pre-ground and pre-packaged not much of that aroma exists.

As part of Howard Schultz return as CEO of Starbucks he's adamant about getting the company focused (inwardly and outwardly) on the core of the brand. Some of it is philosophy, much of it has to do with the stuff you can't see... but the experience.

Coincidently, in my inbox this morning was a fresh issue of Steal This Idea from Marty Neumeier's company Neutron. (Marty is the author of Brand Gap and Zag!)

Invisible Branding
Here's a bit of what is in the Steal This Idea installment entitled "Invisible Branding"...

These days when CEOs and corporate marketers talk about investing in brand, they’re probably referring to traditionally visible touchpoints such as product design, advertising, or web experience. That’s great, but what they, and most people, don’t realize is that branding is much more than just the stuff you can see. Invisible branding refers to those stakeholder touchpoints that have little or no visual presence in the market, but can have a huge impact on your company’s reputation. ...Each of these items are an essential part of a company’s brand, but because they’re not visible, business leaders often overlook them.

The Starbucks team is following what I call the "Aroma First" Rule. You can read about it in tomorrow's post here.

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categorized as BRAND BUILDING > brand guardrails