A five-gallery living brand guide located at Starbucks headquarters.

In 2008 the Starbucks transformation agenda focused the company on reigniting a true passion for fine coffee —with Starbucks partners and customers. In 2011, in conjunction with the company’s 40^th anniversary, Starbucks took a major step forward with that agenda by evolving the Starbucks brand, refining the Starbucks brand essence, and restating their values as a company.

Designed to maintain the Starbucks brand relevance and authority, the most visible articulation of this evolution was releasing the siren from its outer ring in order to give it the freedom to represent the growing portfolio of brands that extend beyond the in-store coffee experience.

To help partners and other key Starbucks vendors fully understand, absorb, and articulate the significance of the brand evolution — and to help them integrate that significance into their working lives, Starbucks worked with Touch to create “Brand Days.”

Touch transformed more than 3,000 square feet of unused warehouse space at Starbucks corporate headquarters into an exhibit that led partners through a dimensional and engaging journey through the rich history and culture of the Starbucks brand. From the company’s founding in 1971 through the current evolution of the brand, the exhibit is comprised of a series of interactive galleries that explore and articulate the relevant aspects of the brand and what it means to be a Starbucks customer and Starbucks partner

The journey begins with a timeline spanning an entire hallway, expressing the rich social and historical brand context, through brand essence in all of its relevant expressions. It then progresses through galleries exploring the human connection found within the Starbucks experience and the 360 nature of the Starbucks experience through coffee, food, store design and customer and partner interaction.,

Like a living brand guide, Brand Days brings the brand strategy and evolved Starbucks brand essence down to earth for partners, making it real, tactile, dimensional, and more relevant than ever. It provides a space for partners to reflect on and recommit to the brand in a way that no brand guide or company email ever could.