So, I wish I could supply a picture of this event but I'm too late. A bar down my street (Near Dundas West & Bloor) has recently re-branded itself. It used to be a grungy cheap place to get a drink, where you'd find your typical local drunkard passed out at the entrance. This place was really bad. It did not make any effort to present itself worthy to its customers. And the typical clients there had scruffy beards, woar heavily worn leather jackets and swore every second word. I know I'm making some generalizations of this place but I just want to emphasize that it was a certain type of place.
Now, the same place has been renovated and has changed its name to the Olive Branch, a resto - bar. I walked passed it the other day and stopped... I couldn't believe that this transformation had happened so fast and that the switch was so drastically different. The funny thing is—even though this place is deemed higher class now, it still has it's local folk frequenting the bar. And that's it. It's just them. I wonder what they think about the whole change? I don't believe they will stop going there because that's the only place they have. So I have a feeling that the owners just disregarded the types of clients it had and tried to attract new ones in a marketting attempt that badly failed in my opinion.
I wish I could show you the signs, they were the best part!
Mighty Mike's becomes an Olive Branch.
Back to Basic
Netscape recently changed their program icon in their newer version browser. The main different of both old and new icon are the previous one was fancy, shinny and semi 3-D like, which is just like all other millions of program icons, and the new one is simple and flat, which is very refreshing to see. I think this is a very interesting change to see because Microsoft just made EVERY icon look ridiculously fancy and shinny in their new operating system Vista. This shinny icon idea is actually started by apple, which is quite successfully done. It is not hard to imagine why Microsoft would follow because they want to compete with apple’s operating system in terms of esthetics. However, they are just too over the top and by the time they’ve done it, the icon tread have already changed.
I couldn’t help but notice the new signage that has been put up outside Village by the Grange. I unfortunately can’t put my finger on what the sign looked like before, but the new one doesn’t quite do it for me either. It’s a blue sign with silver lettering. The mechanical feel of the type really does not convey an interior of yummy fast food restaurants. Rather it communicates a technological quality. I would much rather see something that’s inviting and alludes to the diverse types of food that are available inside. Something with warm colours and type that’s less harsh and more organic. It’s unfortunate because the Grange is directly across the street from an Art school and one might think they would use that to their advantage when they decided to create new signage.
Sing Bunny Sing !!
I found this commercial on you tube.com from the candy company Skittles and it is very funny. The products itself is good to have once in a while, I guess (my opinion). I just found the commercial really hilarious and outrageous. I think this commercial reinforces what the brand is all about, fun, humorous and the taste of candy (rainbow). The website itself is pretty wacky and goes with theme of the commercials, and tagline “ Treasure the rainbow & taste the rainbow”. I thought I might share this with you. Enjoy
Material Choices
Juicy was one of the first jewellery makers for the bracelet charms. The charms retail for about $45-70 each, but are all made in China, and the colour also fades inevitably. Juicy Couture is supposed to be a high-end brand, but this product obviously shows that the material they choose are cheap and unreliable. Tiffany & Co., on the other hand, makes these charms as well, but retail for about $150+, but the finish is alot better. Some consumers don't really care, infact most of the people who do buy juicy is only for the name anyway. In a way, it's kind of like LV making their bags out of rubber, or Mercedez Benz making their car bodies out of plastic.
what are your colours?
What I consider might be one of the most influential branding systems of human history is the flag. It’s absolutely everywhere! Weather it’s just a mark, colour, or shape to some people it effecting your style of living or even how you identify yourself. It’s plastered over pretty much everything and everywhere. It is at every major sporting, political, celebrative event. With pride we show our colours of where we were born or raised.
It unites and separates. It’s these simple colours and shapes that defines our culture.
But despite that GO CANADA!
What are your colours?
A good brand is worth to copy
I think sony this brand has been successfully get people's attention as well as sony computer vaio. The wording of VAIO logo is very smooth and abstract that it leaves an imagination for people to think.
Same as the Mio- A new japanese brand which is mainly produce the navigation system in car. However the logo looks similiar that it's only miss a dot! Maybe this is why sony is a popular brand but mio isn't.
However, I think that a successful brand is not only concern on the logo but also the production and theme as well. If Mio really wants to get popular, i think they should be have more special on other criterias!
Wendy's plans for the future
Wendy's, my favorite fast-food restaurant plans to implement what they consider phase 2 in their quest for higher profits. Changes include adding a larger menu with new drink options and competing with McDonald's and Burger King in the breakfast category. Personally I think Wendy's has the potential to be one of the strongest competitors in the market, their products are more nutritious and better tasting. I personally am looking forward to seeing what they are coming up with, because the red wig wearing guy in their advertisements aren't persuading me
Everything to do with Rogers
A few weeks ago I attended The Everything to do With Sex Show at Exhibition Place. One would normally expect to come away from such a show with horrid/tantalizing tales of debauchery, but in all honesty, I found the show to be rather tame. There was, however, one booth that caught my attention like no other. The booth belonged to Rogers.
The booth was typical Rogers: it was all red and their logo was placed throughout; a wide selection of Rogers printed collateral was scattered about and available for perusal; large, full-colour photos of happy, wholesome families enjoying their Rogers service adorned the walls. The booth was everything I had come to expect from the company, having passed many of its stores and kiosks. The one thing I wasn't expecting was the two, large, flat-panel televisions and the three or four naked bodies that, um, danced across their screens.
Sure, it was a sex show, and of course I expected to see a few nudie flicks on screen. It was odd however to see such films being played at the Rogers booth—a booth that could have been in any mall or department store—and especially alongside such family-friendly images. The Rogers booth was by far the oddest thing I had seen that night. By comparison, everything else at the show was pure vanilla.
Brand aquired, brand destroyed.
What can happen with a brand acquisition? For one, if the acquisition brand is generally less successful than the purchasing brand, then more resources are placed into the development of the failing brand in order to help it realize its potential in the marketplace. Now what happened with Adobe acquiring Macromedia? It sounded brilliant from the start, as Flash was promised to be compatible with Illustrator and vice versa. You will also be able to purchase Flash as a member of the CS3 family as opposed to making an entirely separate purchase. However, these promises were not realized.
One of my hobbies lies in game design. I used to draw my characters in illustrator and then transfer them to Flash to outline them, using its superior drawing tools. I was excited at the fact that I could now directly transfer “ready to animate” images from illustrator. To my dismay, the transfer led to a horrid display of jagged line work, misplaced gradients, and five times the anchor points as originally placed. Fine. No big deal. So what if compatibility issues were not addressed, as I could still try out the brilliant, easy to use, and most innovative Actionscript 3.0. For those who don’t use Flash, Actionscript is the nifty language that can be applied into an animation to make it do cool things like applying physics ratios to objects to make them bounce a certain way, or even inserting a function that allows you to move an object using the simple press of a key.
Unfortunately, my etiquette with regards to Actionscripting was fairly non apparent, as all of my Flash abilities were self-taught from a conglomeration of quickly keyed and “noob directed” tutorials. When I had decided to tell a simple object to move right when the right key was pressed, I was greeted by a message stating my methods were outdated and improper.
I was not allowed to assign actions directly to movie clips, because it was bad format. Flash simply recommended that I insert it into key frames instead as “most animators do”. I had to downgrade to Actionscript 2.0 in order to still be able to communicate with one of my favourite programs. But what does this have to do with Adobe’s brand acquisitions? I had done a little research and discovered that the previous Macromedia team under Adobe’s innovative guidance developed Actionscript 3.0. What a disaster.
Holy Gradients, Wacom!!!
Wacom decided to rebrand. A part of this was revamping their entire logo. As you can see above, it's..uh... pretty revamped. Personally, I'm partial to the new word mark over the old one (though I did always like the old one), but WHAT in the name of gradients is that..thing?! I've tried and failed at guessing what it's supposed to be. All I know is that it sports 10 gradients and is butt ugly, and so far as i can tell has no relation to the products they are selling. What I can't seem to figure out is why on earth a company that caters to artists and designers would go in this direction. The colorful new logo almost seems like something geared towards kids. Wacom makes amazing products, it's common knowledge, so why would they cheapen themselves with this? I dare you all to go to the new Wacom website and not laugh at the bouncing logo in the intro.
www.wacom.com
Japanese lovin' Americans
Today the "I love NY" logo is everywhere: recognizable and re-mixed. It so naturally represents its constituency—in both design and attitude.. I NY's reach and influence today is apparent as much in the number of academic articles written about it as in the number of knock-offs and imitators it has inspired.
Tokyo in the past couple of years has also adapted the campaign creating a remix of "I love New Tokyo" creating stickers on taxi's, television commercials, print ads etc. Im not too sure if its a smart move for the city, due to the fact that they are known to be innovative in fashion, technology, style, design, and art but the people seem to be obsessed with the western culture.
but is this a good image for the city? Have we lost Tokyo to Americans? o_O?
Follow this link to view a video for the "I love New Tokyo" Campaign.
http://octopusdropkick.net/terebi/IloveTokyo.avi
Celebrity Hair
I came across a site for 'alternative hair' called, Hair U Wear. Jessica Simpson and Celebrity Hair Stylist Ken Paves have come out with a new line of hair extensions and Raquel Welch a line of wigs. Apparently this brand has now become pretty popular in the US and Canada with thier celebrity endoresments and Paves' noteriaty. International salons are now lisecned to sell their products and put them in your hair. Althugh many people are against celebrity endoresments, they can be very helpful for small or striving companies to succeed. For some reason when celebrities edorse a product it makes it seem more creditable and consumers have more confidence in using them.
saks sucks?
Saks Fifth Avenue recently updated their logo, to a more organic, free flowing variation. It seems that over the years the company's logo underwent a number of changes, but always remaining with a flowing logo. The previous logo was the most non- organic and the new version is actually quite similar to one that was designed in 1973. I personally liked the older version much better, and I especially dislike how the F is overlaping the other words, it seems like a mistake.
Green Murder
A string of big-name companies have been caught out trying to cash in on the green marketing boom by making fake claims in advertisements. As public awareness of the dangers of global warming has grown, companies have been clamoring to highlight their green credentials in the hope of boosting sales. But many of the claims they have made have turned out to be false.
In the last year the Advertising Standards Authority upheld complaints about environmental statements in the adverts of nine companies, including Toyota, Volkswagen, easyJet, Ryanair, Scottish and Southern Energy and Tesco. Investigations concluded that adverts were "misleading", and many had to be withdrawn.
"In the gold rush to be green, companies can sometimes be guilty of blowing hot air," said the ASA's spokesman, Matt Wilson. "When making claims in their advertisements about the environmental friendliness of their company, product or service some advertisers have fallen foul of the advertising codes." He added: "The ASA needs to see robust evidence to back up any eco-friendly claims. We will continue to ensure that the public are not misled and that advertisers are operating in a climate of truth."
Lexus was subjected o an investigation by the ASA after complaints about its ad for an SUV with the headline "High Performance. Low Emmisions. Zero Guilt." The ad was banned because the headline gave the misleading impression that the car caused little or no harm to the environment.
Volkswagen promoted its Golf GT TSI with a nearly identical headline (above) and copy that promised "More power, less pollution. Better to drive. Better for the planet." This ad was also banned because its claims were to general, despite being relevant in the car's own class.
"Green Murder" is what some marketers are calling this exploitation of environmental ideals to make their companies look good. It seems like madness, however, when the fundamental purpose of branding is to win trust, and these are getting found out by their consumers.
honda civic
Perhaps you’ve all seen this outstanding commercial, but it blows my mind every time I get to watch it. It’s for the 2007 Honda Civic and perhaps is quite similar to many car commercials, showing the vehicle being driven all different terrain, however the sound effects are what make this ad so spectacular. All of the sounds are created by human voices. The commercial shows a choir of 60 people, juxtaposed with images of the car being driven in all different conditions. Every sound is created by the choir and is an exact replication of what the car and it’s surroundings would actually sound like. It is a unique idea that is put together extremely well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwszmsvEmGA.com/
Bell
The major telephone companies such as Bell, Telus, Rogers have come up with distinctive brand identities. Among them, Bell with the beavers are what I don't think of it as not successful brand establishment. The first advertisement of Bell Canada was a gift box. Sure it intrigued consumers with what the content of the box would be. And then, Beaver comes out after they teased consumers enough. What a surprise.
Bell Canada has recently been bought by the Ontario Teacher’s Pension group as a key holding for their pension portfolio.
With the “beavers” campaign for Bell that has been very cute and helped “position” Bell as friendly, Canadian and casual. As anyone who has recently purchased services from Bell or subscribed to internet, phone or satellite services, the “experience” has been less than acceptable. Bell as a first telephone company and inventive company image Beaver was a wrong choice for them I guess.
"Happy Pills"
I found this is such a great example for rebranding a product with a particular connotation, which is different from its original meaning, but still remain the same purpose itself. This candy shop is named as “Happy Pills”, which located in Barcelona, Spain.One inside, you're met by a wall of various gummie candies. You pick what size "prescription" you want, and then you fill the bottle up to your liking. After that, they seal the bottle with a tamper-proof cap and let you choose which label best suits your mood, in either Spanish or English.
The process and the presentation are clean, enjoyable, and very memorable, long after the candy has been consumed- which happened very quickly.
The thing that really impressed me about this candy shop is that it adheres to a "do one thing and do it well" credo. Most candy shops that I know do their best promote sensory overload (and also are rife with stuffed animals and ribbon).
Awesome idea in Lancôme mascara ad
Lancôme is one of my favorite makeup brands and is loved by many women. One product is especially loved, its mascara! This is one of the companies most valuable and popular products. Lancôme is very proud of itself in this market. Although it is more expensive than other makeup brands’, its worth it, as its popularity proves with many women. We can even see it in this unique concept ad. When many brands advertise their mascaras, they are commonly emphasizing one main message, the volume it can provide to eyelashes. Therefore, their strategy is using a beautiful female model, in full makeup, with an emphasis on the exaggerating her eyelashes, as if it is thickened magically! The goal of each woman would be to have these eyelashes, which can only be achieved by using these mascaras.
Lancôme lets their mascara speak for itself. No model is involved. I find those other ads uninviting and boring. No creativity, nothing separating one product from another. Here, the ad of Lancôme mascara is very unique from other unbreakable concepts of ads. Lancôme didn’t use an image of gorgeous model, but used a barcode. Barcode seems an irrelevant topic when we think of mascara, however, like the ad did here, making its black lines to be raised up and thick in volume, works much better than others. Since everyone knows that every barcode bar is formed with very straight lines in a lack of freedom, showing the strong power or magic of volumizing them will draw curiosity to the possibilities of this product. It is different, just like each person, causing a desire to experience it. It is very appealing in an unusual but an interesting concept.
Brands that lie really well
I just read that GAP has been using child slavery recently in production of one of its sequined garments. The clothes were produced in New Delhi, India by children that have been bought off their parents for approximately £10 and made to work in factories for as much as 19 hours per day without being paid, often being beaten.
Even though GAP representatives are claiming that they were totally unaware of this situation, and that they will make sure that the product never makes it to the stores, it's so appalling to see that the company like GAP is not even aware of how its products were produced until the moment the shocking story was brought to its representatives by the media.
Ironic how the company spent lots of time on promotion of it's good ethical position through selling of the (product)RED items, and yet has totally overlooked its ethical practices in the production of its garments.
I think that that's where the dark side surfaces - brands that claim to be "ethical" and "charitable" appeal to the consumers and because of this "good" branding, many of the consumers never question them. It makes me wonder how many of these companies choose to be boastful about the charitable aspect only to conceal some of its less noble practices?
The full disgusting story about GAP is here:
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/2810_gap_slave_kids.shtml
Jitterbug by Samsung!!
A cell phone that is easier and efficient for the older generation. The seniors. Apperently, it is said to be the OneTouch phone that is “one of the simplest, most user-friendly phones ever” by Samsung. These are some of its other features - Soft ear cushion and powerful speaker make the sound loud and clear. Bigger, backlit buttons and brighter text are easy to see. Live, 24-hour Jitterbug operators greet you by name, make calls for you, provide directory assistance, and add names to your phone list. And affordability? Service starts at just $10 a month. No long term contracts. No long distance or roaming fees. Add on Minutes don't expire for up to a year! Wow. As sweet as this phone sounds, i still think they could do much better in providing the ultimate user friendly phone for seniors. But the question is do they want to design such a phone? do they really want to make the perfect phone for seniors? and if they do, what will happen to the phone market? and physical design wise, does it have to look so big and bulgy? why not slim and slick like other phones? All i'm trying to say is that i know they could do better as to designing the perfect phone for seniors that doesn't necessarily have to look like a phone for disabled people.
who were you for halloween
In an earlier post, I described how we brand ourselves, by the way we talk, the way we dress, and basically everything we do. It allows for others to analyze us, much like we analyze bad brand identities, and great ones. 364 days of the year, we brand ourselves as we like to be seen, however, on one day each year we allow ourselves to be whom ever we want to be. Halloween is a time we get to dress like whatever, or who ever you've always dreamed of. Your own personal dreams can come true over night, for at least a short time. Dreams of being a professional baseball player, a playboy bunny or even a superhero, this days allows for your dreams to come true..
HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT HALLOWEEN
Little Tree Car-Freshner has been around since 1952 and is the original Little Tree. This image is in fact their logo, I know what your thinking, but with the right colors and typography, improvements can easily be made. Their current image is not very prominent and I feel they rest on the past for awareness, so if they re-worked their image into something more trendy and current, awareness would be on the rise. They definitely would need to keep their iconic tree image, because that is the only way they are recognized. Little Tree is a very strong brand and has loyal customers, an updated brand image is definitely needed.
WWF Paper Dispenser
I came across this and thought it was a really neat design. It's a paper dispenser designed by Saatchi and Saatchi in Denmark. They simply modified the dispenser and created a green silhouette of South America, and used green paper towels instead of white. On the top it reads: 'Save paper, save the planet.'and then the logo of WWF; So the idea is that as the paper gets pulled out, the amount of green decreases. This reminds people the direct relationship bewteen daily human consumption and the forest. I think this a clever way to raise awareness of the enviornment reduce the use of paper.
Canadian Tire
I'm sure almost everyone has made a purchase at Canadian Tire before, be it for home appliances, car repairs or furniture. The company is a landmark in Canadian retail, having been established in 1922 by John and Edward Billes as a small car parts dealer and garage. Today, Canadian Tire sells everything from camping equipment and clothing to sports items and lighting appliances. However, the company has retained it's original name, which it has, in essence, left behind. But, at this point, it's so established and recognizable that changing it would be a strenuous endeavor.
Which brings me to the brand itself. I always thought it was strange that the maple leaf in the logo is green, instead of red. Also, the large red triangle is a strong symbol, but lacks meaning. In fact, I think it looks like a carrot. But the red, white and green colour scheme carries over into all aspects of the store's brand which does create visual unity. The over hanging aisle signs have become a key icon in the brand, even taking centre stage in their various advertisements.
Side Note: Did anyone else see their ad which placed clothes in between the panes of glass of a bus shelter, along with a "Back to School Sale" sign? I thought it was really clever.
Ad Busters
A few years ago, I came across a website called adbusters.org. It was here that I fell in love with spoof advertising and understanding the depths of truths behind it all. A few campaigns that are my favorite would be the Calvin Klein spoof campaign and the Abolut Vodka campaign. The only way a spoof ad can work to the extreme is if the existing brand has a strong identity. If a brand identity holds water, it gives more opportunities and situations to work with in terms of spoofing the company/product, etc…
The website in its entirety is inspirational and clever. Some may be offensive, but these days that doesn’t really seem to count.
ASUS asus asus...
Asus keeps throwing little sub brands into the mix causing people, like me who've ben long time customers, to be confused! What an awful logo for such a great product they've churned out. The project itself is fairly revolutionary seeing as how it is only 200 USD, runs a full operating system, does everything a computer should be, and be as small as a Nintendo DS. 
And what awful ads, a hand holding a computer with a woman smiling whilst holding the exact laptop in question. The original audience was to be children from 6-12. Now a woman holding the computer with a smile? Seems like the design team smoked too much mary jane in grad school and lost 99% of their short term memory, namely consistent design and brand development.
Beer Ape
In a presentation about award winning ads and multi-media campaigns Steven Mykolyn, Creative Director for Taxi, revealed an ad campaign for Rolling Rock Beer. Most if not all beer company's seem to take the comical approach to their campaigns and Rolling Rock did so as well. But what was different about theirs was that they came at it from an entirely different angle. The platform(big idea) behind the campaign was an apology.
They ran the first ad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCtsmMVt_wA). After watching this one you can see that there are so many advertising rules broken in this it's almost hard to count them all. Many people getting drunk, beers being thrown, clear endorsement of heavy drinking and at the end the Ape jumps into a pool...with an electric guitar. So unconventional might be an understatement. Although this ad was funny on it's own the real campaign began with the next step.
In the next ad Ron Stablehorn, the "CEO/Spokesman" for Rolling Rock, sent out a public apology for the Beer Ape Ad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtTwJxAQm1E). From there ads ran on websites apologizing. Blogs were set up for people the complain about the ad. Then they ran a revised Beer Ape Spot afterwards with slightly altered scenes and a new theme song. From then they generated an incredible amount of viral interest and by word of mouth Rolling Rock was being talked about everywhere.
The next phase was to launch a pre-emptive apology before running their ad during the SuperBowl (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scTbR_xhohY). The ad features men in the office wearing thongs. After this ad another ran called "Foul Ball" which features men getting hit in the junk with a baseball. Throughout the campaign Ron Stablehorn continued to apologize and maintained his role as the company's spokesman.
The campaign was innovative, hilarious, multi-faceted, and gave Rolling Rock a brand voice that they would have never imagined prior. This is definitely one of the best muti-media campaigns I have ever seen.
"Gone to the Dogs"
Karim Rashid designed a new perfume package for the new brand "SEXY BEAST - Canine Style Unleashed" which brings luxury and glamour to the pet market. The company was created by Renée Ryan for her white boxer, Austin. She was looking for products that would get rid of Austin's smell, but nothing could be found so she decided to make her own products and so 'Sexy Beast' was born.
The line includes perfumes, styling products, lotions and glosses - all hypo-allergenic and 100 % vegan. The frangrance Sexy Beast was custom designed by renowned Rashid and is special due to its ergonomic and iconic design. Their website and video is actually quite impressive and I really like the package design and visual identity - I've never seen a sexier dog bone and I'm sure Austin would say so too.
Please do visit their website and watch their pretty video:
http://www.sexybeaststyle.com/videoHome.php
Introducing the new Vii...
Just ran across this today,
So this is
The price is much cheaper than the original Wii, for 986 yuan (around $125) you can own a Made in
Sprintcut your way through life
Sprint has come a long way since they had Candice Bergen appearing in their commercials to promote their service. Their current campaign may be a lot of fun and save you a lot of time, but it obviously has nothing to do with what Sprint provides: wireless mobility. Through their short video clips, Sprint is providing the viewer with ways to shave time off our usual boring activities and in turn providing us more time to do the things we want to do. Can we really save 17 hours of our life by unpeeling a banana in 5 seconds everyday? In my opinion, we will always find a means to waste the time we just saved. However, is this really an effective way to promote their service?
If you would like to view Sprint's website click here.
Holy Sh… Safe happens.
Over the weekend I read an article in the paper that mentioned one of Volkswagen’s TV commercials known as “Safe Happens”. Curious about it, I decided to look it up on YouTube. When I watched the commercial, it made me jump and really caught my attention. In the commercial two guys are rolling down the road, chatting about this and that and just generally chillin' when out of the blue comes this red pickup. Car meets truck. Tires shriek, metal bends with a concussive thud, glass shatters. The two guys fly out of their seats, faces planted into the spreading airbags. The crash is followed by shots of the passengers walking away, dazed but uninjured.
The thing that makes this commercial so intense is seeing the actual passengers being caught off guard (as I was) as they fly into their airbags when they crash, rather than having the camera zoom out or slow-mo like in most movie crash sequences. There wasn’t even any foreshadowing. Apparently these accidents weren’t tricked up in any way. The crashes were shot in one take, using real stunt people and real, non-reinforced Jettas.
At first when I saw this ad I thought it was some kind of parody mainly because they display the smashed up car at the end. The ad really surprised me because I recalled VW’s previous campaigns including “Making friends with your Fast”, and “Un-pimp my Ride” to be humorous and fun. This ad was the complete opposite. Granted that safety is not something to joke about, VW really went for a shock value with these ads. It not only informed its audience of its high safety rating, but also reminded us not to take the power and responsibility of driving for granted.
