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New Identity Alert, January 2011
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New Identity AlertJanuary 2011
N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R TJanuary 2011
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
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methodbranding.com
Among the brand identities featured in this issue are Belk, FAO Schwarz, Symantec, Airtel, Solutia, Whirlpool, Starbucks, GM Financial and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The year has certainly started with some high profile new brands, most notably the Starbucks rebranding announcement and the Rio Games emblem. It will be interesting to see whether this year will a busy and noteworthy one with the introduction of many and hopefully exciting new brand identities.
Update The review of the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games in the past issue of New Identity Alert incorrectly stated that soccer (or football) would not be one of the sports played at the Games. It will, in fact, be one of the 48 sports played at the Games.
2011 This year, in lieu of gifts, on behalf of our clients, friends and associates, Method Branding has made a donation to Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank. Wishing everyone a happy and fulfilling 2011.
dailybread.ca PhotograPhs: Michael Kohn, MichaelKohn.coM
N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R TJanuary 2011
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
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STARbuckS Timed to its 40th anniversary, Starbucks announced at the beginning of this month that it was updating its brand identity. From its first location at Pike Place Market in Seattle, Starbucks now claims it has more than 16,000 locations in over 50 countries, with about 142,000 employees worldwide. In comments posted on the Starbucks web site, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz hinted “…there will be much more to come” this March as the company celebrates its anniversary.
Comment While the words Starbucks Coffee will no longer be part of the logo, this is not a big deal. The company has emphasized that coffee remains at the core of its products but that the “new brand identity will give us the freedom and flexibility…” to expand and sell other products. While only the coffee cup has been unveiled so far, it appears this is a well done brand identity. The refinements to the Siren are slight, but deftly done. Much has been made of the fact that the name is no longer on the coffee cup, but the cup is with consumers after they have made their purchase. It also appears as though the Starbucks name will not disappear
completely. One hint is found on the Schultz video posted on the Starbuck’s web site. It features a vertical Starbucks logotype appearing next to the Siren.
That this minor change to the Starbucks brand identity would attract so much comment is a testament to the strength of this brand. Or, to paraphrase, a tempest in a paper coffee cup.
starbucks.com
1987 1992 20111971
N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R TJanuary 2011
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
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FAO SchWARz In time for the pre-Christmas shopping spree, this iconic brand introduced a new brand identity this fall. FAO Schwarz is nearly 150 years old, and its store on Fifth Avenue in New York City is one of the city’s main tourist attractions, drawing millions of visitors each year. Following several difficult years, including bankruptcy protec-tion, FAO Schwarz is now part of Toys“R’’Us, which will include FAO Schwarz boutiques in all its U.S. stores.
Comments This is truly an iconic brand that is lost. The flagship store on Fifth Avenue is still drawing visitors, but in many ways is now over-shadowed by the Apple Store whose entrance is in the plaza in front. This is the store of the present (and future), while FAO Schwarz in the background is now the store of yesterday, a relic of the past. The new brand identity does not do much to create a “relevant” brand for today. The jester symbol is somehow devoid of personality. Just compare it to Starbuck’s Siren and the coldness of the jester is glaring. Considering how much rich visual history is attached to this brand, from Tom Hank’s playing on
the large floor piano in Big, to the iconic Nutcracker solider – they still are the doormen at the store, and have their pictures taken with tourists every-day – it is puzzling that the company would choose such a sterile new brand identity.
FAO.com
N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R TJanuary 2011
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
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MILLER ThOMSON This Canadian law firm launched its new brand identity this past November. Miller Thomson has more than 450 lawyers in their 9 offices across the country. The firm stated the objective for rebranding as “reaffirming Miller Thomson’s progressive, no- nonsense approach to the practices of business law and litigation.”
Comment The previous logo, with its generic, “no-nonsense” look was considerably superior to the new logo and brand identity. This attempt to create the plus sign out of the I from Miller and the T from Thomson may not be a bad idea, but its execution is hideous. It is truly amateurish and this reflects poorly on the firm.
Law firms need at least some semblance of gravitas, though wit can also work if executed properly. The only thing that Miller Thomson demonstrated in selecting this new logo is poor judgement. And poor judgement in a law firm is not an oft sought-after quality.
millerthomson.com
N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R TJanuary 2011
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
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RIO 2016 The emblem for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro was unveiled during the Copacabana Beach New Year’s Eve celebrations in front of two million people. The emblem was created by a Rio design firm, selected from eight finalists, drawn from a process that apparently initially involved 130 firms. The Games will be held from August 5 to 21, 2016.
Comments Finally, an emblem for an Olympic Game that is well done. Said to symbolize both people coming together and Rio’s iconic Sugar Loaf, this emblem is warm and positive.
It is a welcome change from a series of emblems for major sporting events, the Winter and Summer Olympics included, that were poor testaments to the state of brand design around the world. The worst culprit, as has been mentioned before, is the emblem for the London 2012 Games.
While the emblem for the Rio Games may not be the best logo ever designed, and one can find shortcomings in its execution, it is nevertheless well done as well as being accessible to a wide audience. For an event that will probably have the largest global audience ever, having an emblem that most people find appealing is not a bad thing.
rio2016.com
N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R TJanuary 2011
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
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bELk This Charlotte, North Carolina-based company launched its new brand identity this past fall. Belk describes itself as “the nation’s largest privately owned mainline department store.” Founded in 1888, the company has 305 stores located in 16 Southern states. Belk stated that about $70 million will be spent over the next year for corporate branding and marketing, including $25 million for the installation of new logo signs in its stores. The rebranding, the first since 1967, is said to project the company’s restated mission “to satisfy the modern Southern lifestyle like no one else…”
Comment The new Belk brand identity appears anchored on three attributes: modern, southern and style. It also appears to be none of these. While it is an improvement over its past logo, the new one does not look modern, but more like a 1980s brand identity. It is, from a style standpoint, as stylish as JCPenney, which one assumes is their competition. The brand’s style is very much targeting the lower, mainstream market. This is the crowded marketplace dominated by Walmart, JCPenney and other retailers. Belk also tries to hang its hat on its Southern roots. It is unclear how the brand manifests that. Given that Walmart and
JCPenney, not to mention Neiman Marcus, are all based in the South, it is not clear what Belk does to live up to its Southern claims. It is not Macy’s or Bloomingdale, but what makes it Southern, beyond where it is based?
belk.com
N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R TJanuary 2011
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
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SYMANTEc Having bought VeriSign’s identity and authentication business, Symantec launched its new brand identity this past fall. Based in Mountain View, California, Symantec claims it is “a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help consumers and organizations secure and manage their information-driven world.” The new logo was described as symbolizing “Symantec’s focus on enabling confidence.”
Comment This new brand identity, while profes-sionally executed, raises some questions. Was Symantec, not an unknown brand (with other well-known brands in its portfolio, such as Norton), so damaged that it had to borrow the check mark from the VeriSign wordmark to establish its cred-ibility? Was it necessary to borrow the exact check mark from VeriSign, right down to the identical pixels (as shown above)? What will happen to Symantec, if VeriSign stumbles along the way? How would that affect the Symantec brand?
It often makes sense to build a brand’s equity by leveraging existing or legacy brand equities when a company has been acquired. VeriSign has not disappeared, only part of its business has been sold to Symantec. Linking its brand to VeriSign’s this way, sends one clear message about Symantec: It didn’t think its own brand had much value in the digital marketplace.
symantec.com
Pixel-Perfect coPy
N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R TJanuary 2011
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
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AIRTEL Part of the Indian conglomerate Bharti, Airtel launched its new brand identity in November. The company describes itself as one of the world’s leading telecommunications companies with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa. They claim to have over 200 million customers across their operations, growing from 50 million customers in October 2007 and 100 million in May 2009. Airtel offers mobile voice & data services, fixed line, high-speed broadband, and services for enterprises, as well as national and international long distance services to carriers.
Comment It is not clear what the new symbol represents, but it somehow works. The new brand identity is certainly an improvement over the previous one. It has energy, youth and, with its lowercase logotype, is also friendly. The energy of the new symbol can also be seen on the company’s web site, where sections of the new symbol are used as graphic elements.
The symbol, however effective it may be, is a mystery. Perhaps because the shape suggests a letterform – is it a D? – or is it maybe an ear? – the symbol lacks either the total abstraction or
recognized symbolism that would lead one to quickly imbue any meaning into it. Still, despite any of this confusion, one can’t help think this new brand identity will ultimately be successful and help grow this already large telecommunica-tions brand.
airtel.in
N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R TJanuary 2011
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
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DOubLETREE This past fall, Hilton introduced a new brand identity for one of its hotel brands. Now called DoubleTree by Hilton, the brand has over 240 hotels around the world. Hilton describes itself as “the leading global hospitality company,” with more than 3,600 hotels in 82 countries. Among its other brands are Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hilton Garden Inn, and Hampton Hotels. The new brand identity will start being used during the first half of this year.
Comment “A final group of logo designs were then selected for consumer testing by select focus groups representing cultures around the world. Consumer feedback drove selection of the final logo…” These comments from the press release announcing the new brand identity deliver some insights into the Hilton management style. It is fairly common practice for companies to conduct some consumer testing before introducing a new product or service to consumers. The key here is that consumer testing “drove” the decision. Management abdicated it own judgement in the face of market surveys. The result is a pedestrian
symbol, a brown serif D and a tree. Maybe this was the best of the different concepts developed. More likely, it was the most ordinary and therefore the one most likely to be selected by consumers. Consumer testing has its place as an important tool for brand management. It is, however, not an alternative to executive decision-making. This is especially true with the introduction of new brand identities, where past case histories demonstrate the ineffectiveness of judging a logo’s worth.
doubletree.comhiltonworldwide.com
N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R TJanuary 2011
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
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GM F INANcIAL With the completion of its acquisition, General Motors announced AmeriCredit is to be renamed General Motors Financial Company, Inc. GM Financial provides auto finance through auto dealers. Founded in 1992 and with its head office in Fort Worth, Texas, the company has about 3,000 employees in Canada and the US with approximately 800,000 customers and $9 billion in auto receivables.
Comment GM sold off GMAC and then had to buy AmeriCredit to fill that function (though it is appar-ently interested in reacquiring part of GMAC, now branded as Ally). The new GM Financial logo is an improvement over the AmeriCredit mark, but just. It appears as though they decided that GM Financial would not be linked to GM, other than by the name, but that somehow there was worthwhile brand equity in the AmeriCredit logo. The new symbol borrows the diagonal lines from the old AmeriCredit logo and the typestyle of the GM Financial logotype is a lighter version of AmeriCredit’s.
Clearly, the decision was made that red was too far afield for a GM brand, hence the blue and grey. The question, of course, is why did they not closely align GM Financial to General Motors? The real potential for this brand is how much they can leverage off the relationships consumers (and others) have with the car maker. To distance the brand from that relationship, especially given the decision to name it GM Financial, seems strangely silly.
americredit.comgm.com
N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R TJanuary 2011
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
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SOLuTIA This specialty chemicals and performance materials company introduced its new brand identity this past November. With headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, Solutia has about 3,400 employees in more than 50 worldwide locations. The company produces a variety of products, including films for glass lamination for automotive and architectural applications, for solar and electronic technologies and products for aviation hydraulic fluids. Its new global brand identity was said to be built on the pillars of Ingenuity, Productivity and Performance.
Comment This is not a bad brand identity, but it is one that is not quite right either. The sun-like symbol is fine, with its alternating green and blue lines suggesting the films the company makes that are laminated to glass. The logotype is also okay, with its sturdy, modernistic look. The problem is that it appears as though the whole logo has been italicized, but just slightly. The symbol and logotype are slightly skewed to the right, but not enough to really be italicized and have that forward motion. The result suggests more timidity or hesitation, as though they were not sure whether to move forward or not. The logo, in fact, would have
been much stronger had it not been skewed, at least not the logotype. The tension or contrast between the logotype – had it not been italicized – and the symbol – had it been skewed even more – would have resulted in a much more compelling logo and a better brand identity.
solutia.com
N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R TJanuary 2011
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
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WhIRLpOOL As the company began its 100th anniversary celebrations, it unveiled a new updated brand identity. Based in Benton Harbor, Michigan, Whirlpool describes itself as “the world’s leading manufacturer and marketer of major home appliances, with annual sales of approximately $17 billion in 2009, 67,000 employees, and 67 manufacturing and technology research centers around the world.” The company markets Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, Jenn-Air, Brastemp, Amana, Consul, Bauknecht and other major brand names to consumers in nearly every country around the world.
Comment Why bother is the question that comes to mind when reviewing the update of this brand identity. Sure the type is cleaner with its new sans serif style, and the whirlpool graphic over the W has also been simplified and is clearer, as well as that orbiting sphere graphic. The problem with the old logo (no matter how well known) was that it had one icon too many. With those two conflicting graphic elements, it was a bad logo. Whirlpool has just updated a bad logo. It now has an updated bad logo. Did the Company not have the courage, on its 100th anniversary, to introduce a truly new brand identity, one they could have trumpeted will carry
them into their second centenary? A truly new brand identity could still have maintained the equity of the old brand identity, while still creating something that would have signalled this is the start of a new chapter of the company. Instead, they are clinging to the past. If in the coming years, it finds itself overtaken by European and Asian competitors, this may be looked back upon as a major missed opportunity.
whirlpoolcorp.com
N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R TJanuary 2011
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
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bRANDING hIGhLIGhTS OF 2010 This past year was not an exceptional one for new brand identities, except of course for one infamous case. Of the new brand identities that were reviewed in New Identity Alert, bpost, the YMCA and Towers Watson stand out as the best of the past year. They may not be “perfect” with nothing to quibble about, but these three still stand out from the many ordinary and less than ordinary brand identities launched last year.
Much has been written about Gap’s introduction of, and subsequent retreat from, its new brand iden-tity. The final words of this saga should be those spoken by Don Keough, Coca-Cola’s Chief Operat-ing Officer in 1985. Twenty-six years ago, facing stiff competition from Pepsi, Coca-Cola had intro-duced New Coke, a reformulation of their iconic beverage. Despite months of development and extensive consumer testing, New Coke was met with loud protests. At one point, over 8,000 com-plaints a day were logged by Coke’s consumer hot line, according to the book For God, Country and Coca-Cola, by Mark Pendergrast.
Faced with a non-ending barrage of protests and negative press, Coca-Cola decided to retreat and bring back Coke’s old formulation as Coke Classic. This was huge news, with television programs interrupted with the news. “Virtually every newspa-per in the country (the United States) carried a front page story on Coke Classic, bumping reports on President Reagan’s cancer operation out of the spotlight,” writes Pendergrast.
On July 10, 1985, at the press conference where Coke announced its retreat, Keough was quoted as stating, “Some critics will say Coca-Cola made a marketing mistake. Some cynics will say that we planned the whole thing. The truth is we are not that dumb and we are not that smart.” Feel free to replace references to Coca-Cola with Gap.
bpost.be ymca.nettowerswatson.comgap.com
N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R TJanuary 2011
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
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methodbranding.comN E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R TJanuary 2011
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
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pLEASE cONTAcT uS If you have any comments about the corporate brand identities featured in this issue, or if you wish to alert us to new identities that have been just launched or are about to be launched.
We also welcome receiving the names and e-mail addresses of anyone you think would be interested in receiving this newsletter.
And if you have a branding challenge, we would of course be pleased to meet you and discuss how your brand can be effectively leveraged to its maximum potential.
AbOuT METhOD bRANDING A design firm with extensive experience, we work with a wide variety of clients including corporations, government agencies, not-for-profit organizations, start-up companies and others.
We work collaboratively with our clients, and with other design and branding firms, to create compel-ling solutions. The brands and branded communi-cations (brochures, annual reports, etc.) we create endure and build value. Bringing together the science and art of branding, our solutions are engineered to elicit the desired responses from stakeholders, building maximum brand value for our clients.
Note: The brand identities and trademarks in this document are the property of their respective owners. They are used here solely for information purposes.
© Method Branding, 2010
Thank you to Jim Hynes for his proofreading and wise counsel.
Philip UngerPresident and Creative Director
366 Adelaide Street W.Suite 207Toronto, OntarioCanada M5V 1R9
416.597.1114 tel416.596.0807 fax
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