Smells like marketing

Starbucks is an incredible brand. When I worked at a college in North Dakota the people I traveled with used to make fun of me because I always printed a map to the nearest Starbucks whenever we traveled out of state. Because it’s such an incredible brand Starbucks is one of the top branding metaphors, and to explore it further is probably to invite folly, but the other day I came up with the reason I think Starbucks is the perfect branding metaphor for a Christian college like the one I market.
When I say “brand” the biggest problem I seem to have lately is getting people thinking beyond the visual. To so many the quick minds eye picture of a brand is a logo or other visual element. To make this problem worse the highway to marketing nirvana is littered with branding programs created by consultants, three day seminars and magazine articles.
The reason Starbucks is a great metaphor for me is that the Starbucks brand is not about the visual, it’s about the aroma. The bottom line is that if you don’t like coffee, you won’t like the smell and no amount of cool visual vibe can overcome the basics of what Starbucks is about – great coffee. Our campuses have to have a certain aroma, the aroma of what we stand for and what it means to be a part of “us”. Like Starbucks there are a lot of rooms for flavor, and we will even accept caffeine and decaf drinkers alike, but in the end we all care about the same thing.
Beyond the aroma, there are a lot of things to like about how Starbucks brands. There is the music, and of course great visuals, and a certain sense of style but what it all adds up to is that brand is about way more than what you see. If we can create CCCU brands that reflect that ethos, we can change the world.