Photograph by Andrew Bettles (New York Times)

In a recent piece for his column “Consumed”, Rob Walker poses an interesting question: Can a Dead Brand Live Again?

Not surprisingly, even long dormant brands have value. Brands such as Brim and Underalls still have high recognition even though they have been out of circulation for over a decade. When we reference successful “live” brands, we tend to think of aspirational brands like Apple and Harley Davidson and define their value in terms of iconic imagery or fiercely loyal customers. What is interesting about Rob’s piece is the idea of ‘brand acquiescence’, or a brand’s ability to help us make mental shortcuts in order to make purchasing decisions easier in categories that are either low involvement, low risk or where time is critical. It is one of the only articles on Brand from a mainstream source that can be valuable to people responsible for brands that don’t inspire the passion of a Miata or an Ipod.

Great brands don’t have to inspire passion. They can simply give us well timed teaspoons of confidence and good judgement in a frenetic world.

FedEx announced Monday that it is changing the name of Kinko’s to FedEx Office. Since acquiring Kinko’s in 2004, FedEx has been struggling with how to integrate this brand into its business. This is a common problem many companies deal with, when acquiring a brand with considerable recognition and equity.

“Kinko’s was primarily a copy and print-service provider when it was acquired in 2004,” said Brian D. Philips, president and chief executive officer of FedEx Office. “The name FedEx Office more accurately represents our broader role of providing superior information and services through our company-owned, digitally connected locations around the world . ” (FedEx Press Release)

Finally, they are integrating the brand into their existing architecture nicely: FedEx Office, FedEx Ground, FedEx Custom Critical and less we forget FedEx Express. There is a lot to learn here, and I am sure there is an HBS case in the works, but it always seems that the simplest brand models work the best.

Sohrab Vossoughi’s latest article on Businessweek.com talks about innovation not delivering anymore. He goes onto examine Experience Design as the next potential differentiator.

In the article he mentions one our clients, American Express. I was very happy to see them singled out in such a positive article about the next evolution of what I do for a living. But I was even happier to see Apple Computer NOT mentioned.

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In order to bring the complete vision for the Sprint Studio to life, Sprint and Continuum partnered with their photographer Ron Eshel and German light artists from Lichtfaktor. Working collaboratively in two adjacent photography studios, the team captured both lifestyle photography as well as time lapse imagery of actual light in motion. The resulting images help to elevate the Sprint Studio above the status quo and engage the consumer in a truly amazing retail experience.

Check out this light art. Really amazing stuff.

So I’ve been tracking a little company called Clover, based up in Seattle, that was working hard to re-think what good drip coffee could and should be. From their point of view, the industry was focusing too much on espresso-based drinks and not enough on the classic cup of black magic.

What was their hook? They took the french press brewing process (seen by many coffee snobs as a superior brewing process to the classic, drip coffee makers) and built a machine to replicate it on a larger scale. Coffee drinkers benefited from this ‘artisinal,’ small batch approach to coffee making while independent coffee shops benefited from a new, premium priced, retail theater experience for their customers. This was going to be their way to compete against the green apron army.

http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/about/press/01-23-2008

http://blog.richardsprague.com/2007/11/clover-coffee.html

Then something very interesting happened this week.

http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/pressdesc.asp?id=850

While Starbucks has been focused on growing their business with breakfast, music and Mitch Albom, McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts and the rest have been climbing directly inside their sandbox. We can assume that the move to purchase Clover is a solid indication that Starbucks realizes it needs to focus on the core of its brand – making really good coffee.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention – drip coffee perfection has its price. Clover takes about 4 minutes per cup.

Be sure to pick up The Five People you Meet in Heaven as you wait in line…

I just can’t stop thinking about American Living.

So Ralph Lauren and JCPenney partnered to create a new brand called American Living. As the web site states, the brand is exclusive to JCPenney and jcp.com (btw, they own jcpenney.com as well, and it redirects to jcp.com, but that is a discussion for another day). What I can’t help thinking about is the brand look and feel. It is very aspirational, which I love, but does it have meaning for this retail audience? The imagery is evocative of the Hampton-set, but targeting individuals more comfortable with Hampton Inn.

I like the move, but will it resonate?

CNN’s take on the new brand:

http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/29/magazines/fortune/Its_Ralphs_World.fortune/index.htm