The above scene from Airplane remains funny for many reasons 31 years after the movie first launched.  In the early-80s, part of that joke was the image of children drinking coffee.  Today that is just about normal.

Being from the Pacific Northwest, my love for and familiarity of coffee shops and coffee culture isn't new.  What makes a great coffee shop great is a variety of things... of which only about 50% has to do with coffee.  The other 50%, depending on the shop's brand, comes from the atmosphere - the space and the people.  And while teens have been going to Starbucks for years, this morning while at Starbucks, something occurred to me in a way I hadn't really thought of before:  Marketers no longer have control of their brands... all the way down to the in-store experience.

Starbucks is especially interesting in this regard, as their brand was built almost entirely from the in-store experience that they created.  The friendly baristas who knew you preferred your drink at 172 degrees or that you liked your shots best when pulled at eleven seconds, coupled with the furniture, music and the ability to quietly contemplate things on your own or discuss matters with friends or colleagues... it was all part of the experience.  Starbucks understood this better than anyone and possibly before anyone.

While it's entertaining to see ten-year olds with their parents, drinking from a cup that is wrapped in a sleeve (mostly made from post-consumer content, of course), it is equally fascinating and annoying that the morning coffee, a seemingly very adult experience, has become a hangout for young people who can't get into bars but can get away from their parents.  Caffeinated teens at 7:00 am have somewhat killed my expectation of the Starbucks experience. And I'm pretty sure I'm not alone.

It's been said over and over again that marketers no longer have control of their brand - I know I'm not saying anything new here.  But keep in mind, that doesn't just refer to what might happen online or with your product after someone buys it.  In the end, you don't even necessarily have control of your in-store experience.

We discuss what it means to live in a Unified World a lot at Definition 6.  Brands and people in motion are blurry.  So too are the lines that define them.