Microsoft’s new logo is its first major change in 25 years. This is their fifth logo since the company was founded 37 years ago.
At first I thought this was a joke but no folks, this IS real.
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Kellogg’s announced their newly refreshed brand as ‘the most significant update of its marquee identity in the company’s 106-year history.’
The visual identity has been refreshed, as they say, with ‘distinctly bright visual graphics and images that reflect company and consumer values of optimism and a bright outlook today’. New branding will appear on the brand’s website, all packaging, advertising and other marketing materials.
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Exelon has a new logo which replaces the green and blue logo that has been used since 2000. The logo, they say, “better represents the new company.”
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B2C and B2B marketers are quickly seeing the potential of what a brand builder Pinterest can be. Many businesses have asked me, should we add Pinterest to our social marketing strategy?
Here is where I see the value in using Pinterest for business.
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Apple does it again. The best brand experience can be found everywhere at Apple.
The largest (23,000 square feet) Apple retail store opened Friday, April 6, at New York’s Grand Central Terminal.
If you are not a New Yorker or you don’t appreciate the overwhelming crowds of people, this is the answer for you Apple enthusiasts.
Apple has given the ability of iPhone 4 and 4S, iPad 2 and 4th-gen iPod Touch owners to take a virtual tour of it.
> Go to Apple’s Grand Central Terminal retail store website using Mobile Safari
> Choose “View More Photos”
> Choose the last photo
By just holding the device and moving around with it, it is almost as if you are standing in the store itself. If you don’t have an Apple device, why not find a friend who does.
Everything from their packaging multi-layered reveals to their store experience speaks the brand. Apple is, as Steve Jobs said he wanted to do, “making a dent in the universe”.
Total Rewards, Caesars Entertainment’s casino loyalty program has got a new logo.
To kick off their new look and benefits of Total Rewards, Caesars Entertainment launched a promotional giveaway called “Escape to Total Rewards” with, they say, upwards of 90,000 in prizes including two-night trips to Las Vegas.
Total Rewards, the country’s leading entertainment loyalty program, is the incentive program for players at casinos owned by the 52 worldwide Caesars Entertainments. The more you play, the more complimentary rooms, meals, etc. you receive. Caesars Entertainment says they are “focused on building loyalty and value with their guests through a unique combination of great service, excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence and technology leadership”.
To play, you enter a code online and “spin.” An array of images passes before your eyes and where it stops determines what you win. When it stops on the new logo, all you get is an entry into the sweepstakes drawing at the end of the contest. So essentially … you lose.
You get up to 11 spins a day. This was actually brought to my attention by a friend who uses it. She tells me that she and her friends who have been playing to win since its inception (March 1), all have several dozen entries into the sweepstakes.
So now, when they see the “coveted logo” (that’s how it’s described when it comes up!), they feel a terrible letdown. Who needs another sweepstakes entry?
Is this very good brand building to have players associate the new logo with losing? For those who recognize the Total Rewards logo and are forming impressions of what it stands for . . . this is, indeed, a misstep!
As far as the logo visual, their statement is as follows: It is intended to “capture the energy and excitement of the Total Rewards program, and to illustrate the global network of experiences to which guests have access just by virtue of being a Total Rewards member”.
My thought is … this logo is analogous to someone who got out of bed and forgot to comb their hair before they went out. A tangled web, which is meant to represent their “global network of experiences”, with an angry “TR” inside it. Not much positive going on with this branding.
Is Longwood Gardens just plants, flowers and gardens? Is that their brand? This is one my favorite places to visit anytime of year and I see so much more each time I go. Who they are, is definately much more than that.
The new logo, a series of interlocking script letter “L”s is very pretty with its floral and trellis influences. It is an excellent literal translation and clearly says “flower”. But … is this logo a good representation of their brand? Does it begin to tell what Longwood Gardens is really all about and who they are?
What is a logo? Let’s get back to basics and review a list of what a logo should be.
Is the logo…
Identifiable?
Simple shapes are easily identified.
Simple?
Simplicity builds recognition.
Recognizable?
When a visual is too detailed it becomes less recognizable.
Memorable?
The more easily identified, the more memorable.
Meaningful?
The vision behind the logo speaks volumes about the company.
Scalable?
The visual should be easily recognizable at all sizes – small and large.
A visual representation of a concept?
Does your logo’s visual representation have meaning and significance to your company?
Significant?
Does it use the positive and negative space effectively and meaningfully?
This logo can easily be helped by these visual brand rules.
It can be simpler. It could make better use of the positive-negative space. It could display a more contemporary and friendlier look and feel with the use of a sans serif font and upper and lower-case or just lower-case letters.
Here’s some basics to keep in mind….
In developing a visual brand we are creating a visual concept of your company. Behind your company there is a concept of who you are and what your objectives and goals are. Convey that clarity and the better your visual translation can be.
Put yourselves in your customers shoes for a good perspective. If you know your customer, then you know that they are visually and culturally evolving. Their visual sensibilities have been elevated by vastly improved visual effects in all media. So, help your brand evolve. Stay current and relevant to your customers visual world.
Speak to the Brand.
At face value Longwood Gardens is flowers but the brand is more than what you see when you go to Longwood Gardens. It’s what you don’t see that is equally as important.
Why is a strong company brand important?
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Belkin has a new visual brand identity which represents how their products connect the dots between people and technology.
Aetna has a new logo – the 12th logo in the company’s 157-year history. This is part of their new brand’s “passion for helping people make confident choices and celebrate the equity and tradition of the Aetna name.”
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