Today Starbucks rolled out a new look for it's cups.  Gone is the familiar green mermaid logo and in it's place a more vintage representation of the Queen of the Sea.  In fact, it's not even green... it's all-brown.  Starbucks has been making an effort to reinvent itself and appear to be returning to it's roots.  Last month, CEO Howard Schultz even closed every store in America for three hours simultaneously for "values training."  Even though a temporary change, the new cup is not well received by branding consultants...

They took a logo that was lively and made it dull,” says Alan Siegel, chairman and chief executive of Siegel+Gale, the big brand consultant that has done work for American Express, Dell and many others. “If they’re trying to communicate a message about going back to their roots, the cup doesn’t work.”

Brand consultant Al Ries of Ries & Ries puts it another way. “Brown is probably the worst possible color [for a logo],” he says. “The reason UPS has been successful with it is that no one else wants to touch the color."

What do you think? Is the new Starbucks cup with its brown, retro logo better or worse than the traditional green-logo version? Do you even care?

unlike.net conveys the city’s most treasured locations, events and urban themes, capturing the spirit of life on the go: through the intricate architecture of clubs, shops, restaurants, galleries, parks, museums… helping you feel at home wherever you are.

I'm about to head out the door but I've been wanting to write about this for the past week.  Last week, Maria and I had the opportunity to work on set with the Erwin Brothers producing three music videos for Warner Brothers Records country artist Whitney Duncan .  Her album won't be out for some time but I'm really looking forward to hearing the whole thing even though I'm not a huge country music fan.

On the last day of the shoot, Bill Bennett, President of Warner Brothers Records, Nashville, showed up on location.  I had the opportunity to chat with him for quite a bit and it was a great experience.  He's been in the business for a long time and seen it all.  Previously, he ran Maverick Records, Madonna's label (he was her next door neighbor).  He also ran Geffen in the 90s when they had their big run.

Anyway, I knew he was the president and we'd been on set a while chatting about other things but I asked him, "So, what do you do at Warner Brothers Records?" I wanted to see what he'd say.  It was funny because he didn't know what to say.  I could tell he didn't want to be like, "I'm the president... the big honcho... the bossman!"

His response?  "Umm... I... uh... I kind of run it.  I mean, really I just work there."  We talked about different things and he seemed really pleased with the way the shoot was going.  Great, fun guy to be around.  You would have never known he was the president of a major record label.  Then he did something that probably shouldn't have blown me away but did.  We had wrapped and I was walking them back to the RV and he was all like, "You guys need any help carrying stuff?"

Now, I'm not saying that those few instances qualify as Level 5 leadership in it's totality but it sure is an indicator and a great example.  (If you're not sure what Level 5 Leadership is... read Good to Great by Jim Collins.)  I will say that is was refreshing to see the kind of servant-leadership that is lacking in our world and sometimes even in our churches.  It wasn't about titles or position.  It wasn't about pastor this or that... bishop this or that.... executive this or that... it was about getting the job done and respecting others in the process.

The last thing he said before leaving was... "I've been around and seen a lot and this was the most stress-free environment I've work ed in.  No alcohol... no profanity... everyone was polite and helpful.  Had a great time!"...  Yeah, we did too.