Our thoughts on all things brand related.
MTV: an identity ahead of its time
By Paula Snyder
MTV launched itself on August 1, 1981 and yesterday celebrated its 30th birthday. In honor of their 30th I’d like to remark on the uniqueness of their 30-year brand. MTV’s logo has always been a block “M” with “TV” graffitied in the corner. Pretty simple, no? What I find interesting is that from a branding perspective they were really ahead of their time.
Reflecting the essence of Brandlogic
This year marks a milestone in the history of Brandlogic. We are kicking off the celebration of our 35th anniversary. To better reflect our heritage, reaffirm our commitment to clients and articulate our ambitions for the future, we are updating our brand.
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What’s in a name?
A small yet important change is part of rebranding our firm – the presentation of our name. In print, it had been properly expressed as BrandLogic. Now, we’ve made it one contiguous word: Brandlogic.
Why is that important? It has to do with what a name communicates to the marketplace and what it says about the organization. In our case, we have two pieces of information that we need to get across. First, that we are at our core a brand consultancy, and second, our credo: Ideas that Drive Performance.
The name of the firm itself does a good …
Bringing your brand to China
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending an executive briefing on the business environment in China held by The Conference Board. David Hoffman, a veteran in business issues within China, led the meeting with a compelling look into the economic, social and political dynamics that drive business in the country. Based on the presentation by Mr. Hoffman, it is without question that multi-national corporations and smaller enterprises are still welcome to China, but the operational dynamics are changing rapidly in this fluid environment. Continue reading
Can AirTran and Southwest fly together?
With Southwest’s pending acquisition of AirTran approved by shareholders, the bigger hurdle will be making it work. More than any of the recent airline mergers, simply repainting the planes is only a small step in successfully integrating the two organizations.
Wisequack
Aflac ran a half-page ad in the business section of The New York Times on Wednesday. It was not about Gilbert Gottfried, but rather being “recognized as one of Ethisphere.com’s World’s Most Ethical Companies.”
Was this a smart marketing investment? I believe so.
Brand decaf?
By Dan Dyksen
Barely awake, with my hot Venti in hand, I noticed that something was missing from my Starbucks cup. Like Nike, AT&T and Target (just to name a few), Starbucks has gone “nameless.”
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Google Instant – find your brand faster, or not
By Larry Roth
One of the things that has always kept me a loyal Google user has been speed. Don’t get me wrong, their search results are pretty good, but the speed of the results allows a user to quickly try many different search queries. One big improvement to recently occur was suggested queries—where Google provides suggested search strings as you type. This helps a user to refine their search query on-the-fly. I have found it to help me produce much better results.
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Merging the worlds of design and travel
Pantone, Inc. is best known as the source of industry-standard references for color. The brand primarily targets design professionals. It is fair to say that Pantone revolutionized the graphic arts industry by allowing designers and printers to categorize and replicate color, accurately, anywhere in the world, by referring to uniform color palettes.
Recently, though, Pantone has begun to branch out, addressing a new audience: consumers. Pantone Universe is a new, multifaceted sub-brand that makes Pantone color the centerpiece of everything it does, from the Pantone Universe magazine to a line of themed products ranging from eyewear and jewelry to kitchen gadgets and more. Continue reading
Managing brand performance in financial services
In recent years, corporate brands in financial services businesses, both retail-facing and B2B, have become a major factor in the attraction and retention of clients, talent, partners and capital. In this industry it has not always been so, but in today’s crowded, highly competitive global marketplace, a strong brand can be a major source of advantage. Corporate brand salience has become particularly important in service industries, where economic value is delivered through intangibles and offerings are often seen as interchangeable.
Why have corporate brands come to matter so much in financial services? Much of the answer to this question lies in the growing understanding among corporate executives of what brands actually are and how they add value. Continue reading