April Fool? No, It’s Starbucks Rebranding

I had to check the date on this story, “Starbucks drops its name and the word coffee from logo” as I was convinced it was a wind-up. It was published on 6 January 2011: Starbucks is to remove their name from their logo.

Well, I think it is madness. I’ve already experienced the brand identification problem with Starbucks where there are wannabes using round, green logos and the only safe clue is the word Starbucks. Why on earth have they made this bizarre branding decision?