The one with Starbucks 40th!

Today marks 40 years of development, integrity, & complete fabulocity for the Starbucks brand.

I was ecstatic to find today that the store as I had known it up until yesterday, was changed entirely to a modified brand & color scheme which was green & alive with celebration! I was impressed simply with the time efficiency of it all! Usually during the Christmas season, you see the holiday cups slowly melt away back to the traditional cups. Today, on the contrary, all sign of the old brand had vanished to be replaced with the iconicly simplistic new brand design. This brand resonates with me, as if to say "Carpe Diem" in a matter-of-fact type way. Below is the line-up of Starbucks cups since 1971.

My Love for Starbucks grows with each waft of espresso, each sip of perfect foam. Since my last blog on the subject, when I simply had the Starbucks gold card, I now have the mobile app up & running! With this I can not only monitor my spending & points earned, I can also re-load my account & even pay using my BlackBerry! It's brilliantly convenient!!!

They've also launched a new line of "Starbucks Petites" which are the cute little snacks you see above. They are adorable, bite size snacks which are all under 200-calories, though which still pack a terrifyingly high concentration of saturated fat. With a new food line, you knew they'd have a special blend, this one is called Starbucks Tribute Blend. Although I'm a espresso girl, I realy appreciate the concept of this product. The music & script are reminancent of Tuscan Italy, & deeply resonantes with me a phrase I heard often in Italy. If you had just purchased something from a vendor, the polite thing to do was say "grazie" to thank them for their help. What was intriguing though, was most vendors would respond to you "grazie a te" as if to say, "No, Thank you, because if it weren't for customers like you, I wouldn't be here". It's an appreciate from the vendor that you allow them to do what they love, promote products which they have passion for, & that is exactly what Starbucks is doing with this new campaign.

A few weeks ago, as I walked into my local spot, one of the cashiers asked me "tall skim latte?" I nodded & passed him my phone to pay. He turned to tell the barista; however, before he could speak, the Barista came around the corner to place my latte on the counter. All he has to respond was "Show-off", it made me laugh quite a bit, & has been one of my favorite Starbucks experiances thus far.

The one with Starbucks

What is it about Starbucks which fuels my LOVE.....Is it the intoxicating smell of the best espresso west of Italy roasting as I walk in, the unmistakable relaxing decor, the brilliantly strong integrity of the brand, or the friendly & knowledgeable Barista? I honestly believe it's a combination of it all; that unique experience I can get only at Starbucks!

My obsession (note the bumper sticker I received above) is to the point that at the Starbucks near work, they begin making my latte when they see me walking through the door. Half of the staff knows me & EXACTLY what I get, since I come on a daily basis, & 90% of the time, get the same thing. What is that you may ask? A Tall Skim Latte....perfect espresso & steamed milk, it is beautiful. The strong robust espresso tasting subtly of oak & chocolate with a slight fruitiness which reminds me of Italy. One of my favorite Da Vinci quotes goes "Simplicity is the ultimate Sophistication", that theory comes through here as well as in other aspects of my life.

A cafe I frequented in Florence, Moyo, always served their latte with some fun design such as this & a small chocolate-covered hazelnut

Simply needing my caffeine fix every afternoon does not fully explain my addiction. To continue, I signed up last year for the Starbucks MyRewards. This originally meant that I used a gift card which was registered online to get a "star" every time I purchased. After 60 stars, I was upgraded to the Gold level: read free Birthday drink, free trials, a free drink every additional 15 stars, & a Gold card with my name engraved upon it!! But was that enough? Oh no, I also discovered that my Blackberry had a "Starbucks Card Mobile" Application. This fun little toy allows me to view my rewards, my card balance, reload my card based on debit cards I have stored within the app, & even pay at Starbucks locations within Target stores. If Starbucks' espresso was available via intravenous drip....I'd take it! I am certifiably hooked, I know this, & accept it.

This was posted on the Facebook "Starbucks" fan-page, better believe when I have children they will be dressed as this!

This is not however, a blind addiction. Before I became the Starbucks-crazed-woman I am today, I was an infrequent patron, & read the book "Pour Your Heart Into It". This is a book written by Howard Schultz, the owner of Starbucks, which illuminates the essence of Starbucks from a single shot of espresso, to each store, to the international Brand. I read this book while studying for my undergrad in International Business & Marketing; we had to choose from a list a book to read, & I jumped from my seat when I saw this one. It's a fantastic book which dives not into the marketing or business side, but rather into the Starbucks Brand, its roots, its integrity, its vision. I developed a respect & affinity towards Starbucks which was only reinforced as I continued to study it. If you want to know anything from a basic FAQ, to their current specials & nutrition, to a full history, or what their consumers are saying about them, visit their website. Starbucks.com is fully encompassing in every sense.

When I get a chance to use an example of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), I usually choose Starbucks. So many people criticized them when they began closing over a thousands locations nationwide; however, I was thoroughly impressed. Starbucks believed that they were losing quality control, which wasn't something they were willing to sacrifice; they closed all those stores, took tens of thousands of lost profits simply to protect the strength of their brand! What stronger show of integrity is there? Another Example I particularly like is the campaign they sponsored for Earth Day 2010. A few weeks beforehand, they asked people to "pledge" on the website the number of disposable cups they would save weekly by using reusable cups when they went to Starbucks (which also gets you a $0.10 discount). After you pledged, they showed you how many trees you would save yearly if you followed-through. Having one latte a day, I had the potential to save 7 trees. (!!!) I immediately went to buy my reusable mugs & have been using them since. I forget what the pledge Total was by Earth Day; however, in 2009, Starbucks served 26.3 Million drinks in reusable mugs -- that's quite impressive.

Another feat of integrity which is Love, is that no matter what Starbucks you go to, you will get the same drink which you know & love, hand made exactly the same way. I'm not just speaking about within the US either. I've been to Starbucks in London, Barcelona, Paris, Madrid, & Prague, as well as countless cities around the US, & I have yet to be disappointed once. The exciting thing too is that while all the drinks are the same, & the decor is unmistakably familiar, each countrie's Starbucks has their own colloquial pastries & goodies. There have been discussions on the forums to bring special items from other countries to our domestic Starbucks, & I sincerely hope they do, it's one of my favorite parts of trying international Starbucks\....well that & the simple trill of seeing Starbucks there!

Starbucks in Barcelona

I could go on for hours about my devotion to Starbucks, but I hardly believe that would be fitting. Let me know your thoughts on the brand, & of course any points of discussion would be highly encouraged!