» Second Cup Re-Branding advertising/design goodness – advertising and design blog: The best ads & designs and sometimes the worst around the globe.

Second Cup Re-Branding

I just noticed today that Canadian based Second Cup has re-branded itself. Here in Canada we have 4 main coffee chains. Tim Hortons, Starbucks, Second Cup, and Timothys Coffee. Second Cup was always going strong against Starbucks, but I guess now they feel that they have to look a certain way to get some of the Starbucks audience.

Does the new logo work? To me its not much of a big improvement, while the logo reminds me a lot of the Jurrasic Park logo.
It has more of a “trendy” feel to it, but will this change the mind of Starbucks customers to try some Second Cup coffee? There isn’t much information on this logo yet, but I will see if I can find more over the week.

second cup, re branding, logos

The Meat Market

Get your ad here for 30 days, for a ridiculous price.

9 responded to this post

Jess said on November 14th, 2005

LOL, it does look like the Jurassic Park logo.

Aaron said on November 14th, 2005

Wow, that’s… a shame. One of the things Second Cup had going for it was its old-school feel. I didn’t mind their old logo at all. The new one just feels… generic.

Matt said on November 14th, 2005

I agree – it’s a significant devolution. The old one looked authentic, curious, perhaps even bohemian or revolutionary – like a good cup of coffee in a world of stale blends.

The new on is indeed generic – it looks like it belongs on a styrofoam cup at a late-night gas station. Perhaps the biggest mistake was to eliminate the words “Coffee Co.” from the logo?

Freddy said on November 14th, 2005

“it looks like it belongs on a styrofoam cup at a late-night gas station.”
great point…

Anonymous said on November 15th, 2005

what? Granted, the new logo is nothing spectacular, but the old logo was horrible. It was hard to read, boring and sophomoric. They could have done a better job with the new one, giving it a more “authentic” and original look. But, I don’t think you can say the old logo was better.

Andy said on November 15th, 2005

I agree, the type of the first logo is completely generic coffee house type. It was awkward and off. The new one is a bit more clear in putting the company name straight out there. It isn’t completely orignal, granted, and it actually reminds me of Maxwell House with the soft gradient.

Kenny Bania - The Freshmaker said on November 15th, 2005

yeah i definately am not a fan of bodoni and similar typefaces that use such extreme thick-and-thin contrast. they are a bitch to read – especially for reverse-type.

but one thing i did like about the old one was how that thick-and-thin contrast was somewhat mirrored in the coffee cup logo.
so i can appreciate and respect the continuity.

but yeah, the new one definately screams jurassic park. good call on that, fred.

Anonymous said on November 15th, 2005

Karla Homolka prefers Tim Horton’s. “The coffee for complient wives of sexual sadists.”

blushlogo_ink said on February 9th, 2009

I think its not “re-branding” but “re-designing” as the brand is just the same and only the logo itself has been changed.
Remember logo is not a brand
About the customization of the old ‘second cup” logo, I may say it can catch more attention as it is clearly readable. And this works very well for me.