I have a love/hate relationship with Caribou Coffee. Followers of my Foursquare activity will find this surprising since I check into their locations frequently. While not my favorite corporate cup of joe, I often fall prey to the convenience of tripping over their stores throughout my day (most of their 500 locations are in Minnesota).

Don’t get me wrong, there are some things I really enjoy about the Caribou experience: the fireplaces, their Monday Happens campaign ($1 coffee on Mondays), and the company’s line of reusable knitted and fabric cup sleeves to name a few. So I was naturally quite interested when they announced their new logo and branding direction on March 1.

The world’s second-largest coffee retailer (a very distant second to Starbucks, but still impressive) is based here in the Twin Cities and stayed close to home for guidance on their new branding effort. Minneapolis ad agency Colle+McVoy is responsible for the makeover which ironically aims to make the chain feel less regional. Brandweek describes it as an attempt to “bolster its appeal as a branded coffee company by playing down the ski lodge imagery and, yes, the caribou, with a sweeping rebranding.”

The local press had mixed first impressions. The Star Tribune called the new logo “sublime” while City Pages thought it resembled one of those hidden image puzzlers found in Psychology textbooks. “Is it a vase or two lovers kissing? Is it a rose or the profile of a woman? It it a tree or an infant?” They also saw a bulbous-nosed proboscis monkey within the design, which doesn’t add much to the discussion but I just think is awesome.

My musings inspired fellow designer, @sparkyfirepants, to write an excellent post about why rebranding and a new logo won’t fix their problems. The design itself was nicely summed up by underconsideration.com, “The caribou itself is not as convincing and it’s trying too hard to carry meaning: Its body is a coffee bean! The antlers make a ‘C’! The shield is like a park sign! The angle of the jump signifies the expected revenue of 2010! Okay, I made that last one up, but in trying to do too many things with the icon, it becomes a little bit of an amorphous jumble.”

I asked folks on Twitter and Facebook for their feedback and got a range of opinions with distinct trend toward the negative.

Logos are tricky things. People get VERY attached to them and change is largely treated with skepticism. Just think back to the ruckus Pepsi caused a year ago when they changed theirs. Any brand going down this path should tread lightly. At the very least, the process should be thoughtful and clearly explained. I believe the execution of the rollout phase can tell a lot about the brand itself. Most importantly, it reveals how they really feel about their customers.

What does this move say about Caribou?

To me, it says they’re not really committed to doing this in a coordinated fashion. While the new look was unveiled March 1 on cups, napkins, cardboard sleeves and some signage, the website won’t change until April 1. Many other in-store updates reportedly won’t be complete until early 2011. I was at a Caribou on Monday and barely noticed anything different. The fancy napkins were nowhere to be found, the few new signs featured tiny new logos and the staff was lackluster when asked about the change. Worst of all, my coffee came in a cup with the old logo and a cardboard sleeve with the new one.

I realize Caribou locations are franchises and it may be difficult to coordinate something of this size easily. Wasn’t it at least worth the effort to try? When Starbucks roll out their red holiday cups each Fall, it happens at every location at at the same time. Overnight. Of course there is waste involved in replacing the current inventory of Caribou cups, but why make the cup one of the key elements of the rollout if every store doesn’t feature the new ones proudly? Especially when so few other elements even include the new logo.

Why wait a month for the website to reflect the new brand? It’s the easiest way easier to sync a central element up with the new look and certainly cheaper and faster than updating major store elements. Here’s their homepage on March 1. Less than a third of the page is devoted to the new brand. There’s simply an image without any explanation.

Clicking the image leads you to a brief page with the only explanation on the site of the new brand. There is little about the motivation behind the change or expectations of when it will be fully rolled out. They relied on news stories to fill in the gaps. There seemed to be no intention of leading the online conversation or even doing much to support it. What a missed opportunity.

Now to be fair, they did update their Twitter background and avatar. Although they didn’t answer my tweet asking why the new logo wasn’t more prominent on their website. I’m not bitter about that at all. Really.

The other thing that troubles me about the way they describe the new brand is the emphasis on a broader-based, new direction. They are essentially telling their existing customers that the woodsy-lodge feel that attracted them for the last 17 years is no longer desirable. It’s too regional now that they want to grow aggressively. They simply want new customers who are attracted to a more contemporary logo and less homey decor. It’s no surprise some long-time fans are upset. Caribou is moving on without them.

What do I think of the new brand? I thought you’d never ask.

I’ve had a few days to mull this over now and have some random thoughts on the subject. Overall I like the feel, the colors, the style of the hand-lettered typography but have trouble with the execution. There are some readability issues with certain letters in “Caribou,” the sans-serif font used for “COFFEE” is too formal for me and the light blue color is really hard to read against the brown cardboard sleeve. The horizontal version of the logo feels unbalanced (especially with the color/contrast issue on the sleeve), although I like the vertical orientation.

I love the handwritten note elements on the other branded pieces, but it feels tacked on and disconnected to the main logo.

I’m not a fan of the caribou either. It’s too simplistic and icon and a little obvious for my taste. If I want to find hidden pictures I’ll buy a copy of Highlights. They make you work for it.

There’s something about the antler that bothers me too. The way it’s sitting on his head reminds me of Max in “How The Grinch Stole Christmas.”

In any event, I’d love to hear your thoughts. What do you think?

My contribution for the first ever Ignite Minneapolis. Thanks to videographer Brian Stemmler for making me look good.

The Ignite challenge: Any topic, 20 slides, 15 seconds per slide, 5 minutes total.  This was so much fun. It helped to be talking about a subject I’m passionate about. Remember, friends don’t let friends use bad fonts.

If you’re interested, you can find my presentation slides here. I’ve also set up a Flickr group of the same name to collect even more great photos of bad fonts in action.

The dried granules are out of the bag: Starbucks is rolling out their version of instant coffee. They claim it will “absolutely replicate the taste of Starbucks coffee.” I’m a little skeptical about that, but I do think it’s a bold move in the right direction for the company. It’s just a matter of time before the other coffee giants hop on board with their own versions.

Instant coffee caught on in the US around the time of the Great Depression. I hold it responsible for lowering the standards of a decent cup of Joe in this country for decades to come.  When Starbucks opened in 1971, it wasn’t just the price tag that was different. The coffee itself was richer and more flavorful than most Americans were accustomed to. The $17 billion instant coffee market is long overdue for some direct competition.

From a design standpoint, the little packets of Starbucks VIA™ Ready Brew Instant coffee are quite fetching. They remind me of tube-like sugar packets I’ve seen (Intelligentsia Coffee makes one). I’m anxious to try it.  They’re only offering it in select Chicago and Seattle stores so I had to order a free sample online. I’d love any reviews from folks in those cities in the comments below.

The only thing I’m not crazy about (so far) is the slogan, “Not instant… instant.”

Apparently, “Instant coffee that tastes like actual coffee” didn’t occur to them. How about Instant Karma? Instant Gratification? Call me next time, Starbucks. I’ve got a million of them.

Hasbro finally took out Scrabulous today. The incredibly popular Facebook application had been dancing on the toy company’s intellectual property for almost a year now, so not many were shocked. It was a play straight from the book. The problem is that the book has been out of print for years.

Don Reisinger at Mashable makes the excellent point that one of the real issues here is that two brothers from India accomplished something that mega-company Hasbro failed to do — generate interest and excitement in Scrabble. Lots of interest in fact. I never really enjoyed the game until I discovered Scrabulous. With a daily average of half a million users, Scrabulous was one of Facebook’s most popular applications. Hasbro, you don’t sue people who do that for you. You hire them!

It bears repeating, 500,000 people a day were playing Scrabulous. Hasbro’s response to this surge of interest in their dusty old brand was to say, “Sure, we’ll engage with you. But on our terms.” Did Hasbro really think that crowd would respond favorably when they pulled the plug? Did they think we’d greet them as liberators?

Let’s not forget the catalyst in this clever scheme. Hasbro waited to file suit until the day their shiny new Facebook application launched. Scrabble Beta took almost 8 months to develop. That’s almost as long as it’s taken to rebuild the collapsed I-35 bridge in Minneapolis.

Here’s where they dropped the other ball. Scrabble Beta is clunky, needlessly animated and sports a crowded, busy design. Compare this to Scrabulous’s clean, fast, simple interface. I would go so far as to call Scrabulous elegant in comparison.

There’s no excuse for this. Hasbro had the resources, time and motivation to make Scrabble Beta the ultimate Facebook application. Hell, they could have just copied Scrabulous. Wouldn’t that have been ironic?

Brands need to pay more attention than this. This is an example of the fundamental difference between the old way and today. The rules have changed. Companies like Hasbro missed the memo.

The next time half a million people raise their hand and want to engage with your brand, what will your response be?

It took a while, but Spring has finally come to Minnesota. So, squinting in the sunlight and gasping the fresh air pouring through newly opened widows, my thoughts turned to cleaning, de-cluttering and purging all the stuff that has piled up around here. Then I started to think about the state of my social networks (of course). After all, the potential audience exposed to my garage is fairly small compared to my varied online nooks and crannies. It’s also more fun to blog about this than organize my closets.

Perhaps your own social networks could use a bit of tidying up? Here are some ideas:

• Blogs – Just like that scary kitchen drawer that accumulates all the stuff that doesn’t have a home, blogs can become cluttered as well. Does your sidebar need sweeping? Too many badges and widgets can really distract users and slow down your page’s load time. How about under the hood? Are you using the most current version of your blogging software? If you’re a WordPress user, this is a snap (one click after installing the WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin) Speaking of plugins, are yours up to date? Again, WordPress makes this simple with the plugin auto upgrade feature built into version 2.5. Finally, give your blogroll a once over. Links working? Still want to include everyone? Any new additions you’ve been putting off?
• Other Social Networks – If you’re like me, and join every new social site that catches your eye, you may have a collection of seldom (or never) used accounts on your hands. Now’s the perfect time to let some of these go. Why leave unused profile pages lying around waiting to be indexed by search engines? Also consider the impression users of that network will have of you if your page looks abandoned. More and more sites are making the cancellation or deletion of accounts a simple process. Take advantage of this and weed your social garden. You should also tend to those networks you do participate in. Is all your information current on your various profiles? How recent is your buddy icon or photo? Do you really need all those Facebook apps? Is your profile page an accurate reflection of how you want to be portrayed?
• Feed Readers - How many RSS feeds do you subscribe to? 20? 100? 500? Its easy for your reader of choice to get out of control (although Garrick Van Buren is doing some interesting things to combat this with Cullect.com). Take a few minutes to revisit the sites in yours and do some pruning. Chances are, there are more than a few that no longer have value to you. A little breathing room will also help the feeds you do care about rise to the top (and blossom, if you will)

Devoting just a few hours to eliminating your online clutter will yield long-lasting results. Your social network presence will sparkle. You’ll feel better and so will your subscribers, fans, friends and contacts.

Now if anyone needs me, I’ll be in my attic.