Coffee Republic unveils new look bars to fend off rivals

Coffee Republic has launched a new image for its expanding coffee bar chain after consulting between 30 and 40 major advertising, design and PR agencies.

Design company Fitch was selected to “evolve” the identity of the new-look stores. The first of these opened in London’s West End last week, with 11 more planned for completion by March 16 next year.

The rest of the 25-strong chain will gradually be refitted to match the new image, which features redesigned menus, posters and a bronze and light green decor.

Coffee Republic, which has also been in talks with Ogilvy & Mather, M&C Saatchi, and McCann-Erickson’s youth marketing arm Magic Hat, hopes its new design will differentiate it from rivals, such as Costa Coffee and Starbuck’s, and emphasise a service-led image.

Sahar Hashemi, marketing director and co-founder of Coffee Republic, says: “There was no different- iation between coffee chains, despite the differences in service levels. It was easy for customers to forget which chain they’d visited.”