The Story

I’m sure you’ve heard by now that Starbucks is undergoing a lot of changes in an effort to get back to their core. (Check out this article about Howard Schultz’s return in TIME magazine.) One of the changes includes getting rid of the popular breakfast sandwiches - a truly sad moment for several of us here in our office.

What’s most interesting about this decision is the reason behind it - it wasn’t because of low sales or decreased profits from the sandwiches, but because of their smell.

Customers complained that Starbucks didn’t smell like coffee anymore - instead, it smelled like McDonalds’ morning Egg McMuffin rush. Not the experience customers had come to love - and expect - from their local coffeehouse.

I am really impressed by the decision to get rid of a product that’s consistently earning money in an effort to create a better brand experience for customers. It shows that Starbucks understands the importance of sensory branding. After all, their music, coffee taste, and interior design are all carefully aligned with the brand - so why shouldn’t their smell be?

It’s a powerful example for bank and credit union marketing professionals to consider - is the smell in your branches invoking the wrong experience for your customers? Or, maybe more accurately, is the lack of smell invoking the wrong experience - what we might call a non-experience?

Follow in Starbucks’ footsteps and consider all aspects of the experience you’re creating for your customers - not just what they see or hear, but what they smell too.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 4:43 pm and is filed under Bank Branding, Credit Union Branding, Touch points, Branding, Experiential Brands, Multisensory Marketing and 5 Senses Branding, Starbucks Branding & Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.