Once upon a time, before the likes of Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry roamed (infested?) our airwaves, a startup television channel named MTV used to play music videos. And not just from 3 AM to 8 AM, as seems to be the case today. A look at MTV’s current programming schedule shows just how much has changed since “Video Killed the Radio Star.” While the focus on teenage viewers is abundantly clear—with shows like “When I was 17,” “16 and Pregnant,” and “That 70s Show”—there are few clues for unfamiliar viewers as to exactly what that big “M” stands for. In fact, MTV officially dropped the line “Music Television” from their logo last year.
I offer this MTV parable only as counter-example to
Google’s holiday logos, or Google Doodles, are great, and show off the company’s willingness to have a little fun at its own expense—something I think far too many big corporations are afraid to do. It’s an unfortunate fact that the brand consulting industry is partly to blame for this fear of “fun” and creative expression, as documents like visual identity guidelines (although very useful for many companies) can err on the side of restricting too much, preventing in-house creative talent or well-intentioned managers from effectively expressing the company’s personality. Guidelines and charters like these need to walk a fine line between preventing inconsistency and allowing a reasonable, useful amount of flexibility. They should, in fact, enhance the expression of a brand’s personality.
But all this is a topic for another post. All I really wanted to ask was whether anyone else was a bit freaked out by the pointy “horn” of the “e” sticking out from behind the US flag in this Veterans Day logo from Google a month ago:
I feel like Senator McCarthy saying this, but that red shape, peaking out from behind the American flag…it seems reminiscent of another symbol to me…
While visiting the US I stopped by Take a Bao, a new concept installed in the food court at Century City’s Westfield Mall. Despite feeling a bit funny about traveling all the way to LA for a Chinese-inspired lunch, I was drawn in by my fascination with fusion food, Take a Bao’s visual identity work, and the fact that I love char siu bao.
The idea for the place seems pretty straightforward. In their own words,
About a month ago, the following question was posted on Linkedin: “What is the difference between MARKETING and BRANDING?” Here are excerpts from four of the first five responses, admittedly taken out of context:
“branding [precedes] marketing…”
“Marketing is just one component of your brand.”
“…branding is one of the many important components of marketing.”
“marketing is about product information…but branding is about the product uniqueness…both are about positioning of the product”
I’ve had the pleasure of representing the firm I work for at a couple of conferences and networking events lately, and explaining who we are and what we do. Because I’ve been one of the few branding/marketing/communications people at these events, that’s often meant explaining what brand strategy is. As much as the average professional claims to have a grasp of brand strategy concepts, there’s still a tendency to assume all we do is come up with pretty logos and snappy taglines.
There’ll never be a lack of ways to explain branding and brand strategy (as evidenced by all the books on the topic, for example), but I do think it’s a good exercise to think about the best way to communicate its value and relevance to different audiences in different circumstances. So here’s more or less the story I’ve been telling over the past few days. I like that it’s pretty succinct (at least compared to my typical verbosity), avoids branding jargon, and gets away from specific tactics. Curious what you think about it.
Gatorade has been befuddling me ever since the beginning of their “What’s G” campaign.
First it was “What is G?”
Now it’s “Who is Gatorade?”
At first I thought the new campaign was meant to infuse the beverage brand with a little more urban chic, with Lil’ Wayne narrating and the implication that the Jabbawockeez are just as much athletes as are Michael Jordan and Jackie Robinson.
Then came the Monty Python ads. Weird. Amusing. About as far from “urban chic” as you can get.
I’m not sure how I missed this, but the designer know as Velociraptor has updated his original Crayola Color Timeline that I posted about last year, into the the new Crayon-Bow (half rainbow - half rising su...
I missed this Inception Chair by Vivian Chiu because it was being exhibited in Noho during ICFF. It was a big regret of mine being unable to get to Noho to check out the great installations.The Inception Chair...
My friend Tina (AKA Swissmiss) has launched Tattly, a new online store for — get this — designy temporary tattoos! Yes, now you can wear your love of design right on your sleeve. Why get a permanent MOM whe...
