In the early 1990's, you could wander into a Hear Music retail location and trust any sales associate to introduce you to your next favorite song. Acquired by Starbucks in 1999, Hear Music is all about creating "new and convenient ways for you to discover, experience and acquire great music." Music was a critical foothold in evolving Starbucks beyond coffee to a lifestyle brand. (Disclosure: I had the privilege of working with a Hear Music co-founder on a subsequent music enterprise)

"There’s the faintest whiff of discriminating good taste around everything Starbucks sells, a range of products designed, on some level, to flatter the buyer’s self-regard," reports The New York Times in The Starbucks Aesthetic.

One customer reports appreciating that Starbucks helps him "edit down his cultural choices." Looking over the selections the company makes, he said, he has the impression that 'some people of caring hearts and minds have looked at this and felt it was worthwhile and beneficial and would create a good vibe in the world.'”

Now that Starbucks, with 12,000 stores around the world (5,400 U.S.) has become ultra-mainstream, they are smartly counteracting that reality by offering out-of-the-mainstream cultural products: CDs plus DVDs and books. that "add to the emotional connection with the customer," says Howard Schultz, the chairman of Starbucks.

Move over, Oprah.

The chain’s wireless Web-access network with 12,500 distribution points (stores worldwide) is a network with the capability to "to expose our customers digitally to unique content.” says Schultz.

What's the unifying brand promise of Starbucks and its cultural project? Discovery. No matter if it's a bold and smoky roast from Rwanda, or Lily Allen.