Walmart vs. Wal-Mart
July 11, 2008
The new Wal-Mart logo.
Sorry. The new Walmart logo.
It’s clean. It’s bright. It’s streamlined and sleek.
The star is gone. Actually, the hyphen is gone altogether. The big chunky big box letters are gone. The blue is gone.
In other words, it’s everything Walmart wants to be these days. And it’s gotten rid of everything that has hampered its image.
It looks a little more boring, a little bit more ordinary, and the starburst has no explanation, but I will admit (much as I hate to do it) it’s a positive move. It’s a change of the brand, and nearly every change makes sense.
The question is – is it the right move? Have they lost a good chunk of their identity? Or are they big enough that they can weather a new look without any loss of feeling?
(Though, let’s be honest. I think we all know that Walmart will be okay.)
A jagged little “brand”
June 4, 2007
Post Haste will be up and running again, soon. Just let me get out from under my pile.
Until then, I bring you the new logo for the London 2012 Olympics.
A world wide spotlight. A huge event that will bring millions into the city. The freakin’ Olympics, right? And this…THIS is the best they could come up with? This looks like it’s representing the 1994 Olympics.
It looks a little dated, is all I’m saying.
Of course, who am I to criticize - I couldn’t create a logo if my job depended on it. That’s not really the point. Aside from this logo being ugly, my beef is that the London 2012 Committee keeps calling this logo a “brand.”
From the London 2012 website:
The new London 2012 brand was designed by Wolff Ollins. The design brief was for an emblem that represented the four key ‘brand pillars’ of access, participation, stimulation and inspiration, culminating in the brand vision of ‘Everyone’s Games’.
A brand can’t be created out of thin air, like a headline or logo. A brand is the result of years of experience and the feelings and thoughts of your customer. A brand can be influenced by a logo, but it isn’t the logo itself.
Coke didn’t create a brand by using white script on a red background. Coke created a brand by offering a fun experience in every aspect of the product — from the bottle shape to the commercials to the taste itself. They painstakingly crafted a set of feelings from years of experience and carefully-tweaked messages. And even then, Coke doesn’t own the brand. Its customers will change it whenever they see fit.
The consumer decides what a company’s brand is. It’s that company’s job to lead them in the right direction and give them something TO brand.
If they try to create the brand for the consumer, the consumer won’t respond. Simply put, the consumer doesn’t want to be told what to think.
Is a brand based on what the consumer thinks?
Or is it based on what the company wants the consumer to think?
White white space
January 9, 2007
Here at Post Haste, I have always meant to do more for the designers out there. Unfortunately, I’ve been rather lax in that department. After all, I have about as much of a design eye as the crew that designed the Head On commercials.
I can, however, pass other people’s thoughts and ideas around. Like today — A List Apart’s Mark Boulton has a very good piece on the importance of whitespace. And while it may come as no surprise to the designers out there, it’s still worth reading — even for those of you who DON’T design.
My first design job was with a small print design agency in Manchester that produced work in varying media: packaging, publications, and marketing support materials, and…direct mail. I soon discovered that the graphic design principles I’d learned in college were of little use when I designed for direct mail, where big, bold, and crowded is the order of the day. In the words of one client—words I will never forget—“whitespace is empty space.”
Direct-mail clients need their packages to look down-market, because it works for them. But for just about everything else, my client couldn’t have been further than the truth.
Check it out here: “Whitespace” by Mark Boulton.
Now, don’t say I never did anything for you designers.
Designing, HS style
October 20, 2006
HenkinSchultz is in the news, thanks to some of our illustrious designers.
The article — “Grand designers: Graphic artists find a hot market in Sioux Falls” — included a cover shot of HenkinSchultz designers Tanya Christensen and Melissa Heier, in addition to the large “Holiday Inn” star from our front entrance. Unfortunately, the web article doesn’t have this picture. But the content is there. And a video is available — it may or may not work for you, but give it a try.
“Sometimes you can be a little disturbed, because you know that visually what you made may be the best solution they could have, but getting them to realize it and think outside the box doesn’t happen a lot,” said Tanya Christensen, a designer at Henkin and Schultz. “That’s the hard part.”
Eventually something clicks, and a design is born. Work by Christensen and her co-worker Melissa Heier represent the firm in the SDSU exhibit.
It’s a busy, often hectic and demanding job, Heier said.
“We do a variety of things, from logos and creating billboards, to whole campaigns to ads, direct mail and more, some days I might work on up to 10 jobs in one day,” Heier said. “But it’s rewarding, too, being able to visually communicate, place things, make people’s eyes follow it and get a point across.”
Alumni from the Department of Visual Arts at South Dakota State University — of which our two cover designers are included — will be showing examples of their work and the work of their co-workers at an SDSU Ritz Gallery exhibit in Brookings through Oct. 27.
Patriotism Gone Awry
September 20, 2006
Has anyone else noticed lately the popularity of using an image of the American flag and similar patriotic themed images in advertising?
Last night on my way home, I drove past a local car repair shop that had an electronic, animated LCD marquee between the road and its front door. The message flashing on the marquee invites people to stop in and see how well they treat their customers. The business enhanced the invitation with a free cup of coffee. At the top of the flashing text message was an animated American Flag, used as a border, drawn out with the red LCD light bulbs.
As I read the message on the marquee, I wondered if the business owner believed that adding the American flag to the message made the invitation to stop more inviting? Or, was it just a thoughtless gesture; a way to add visual interest to the message?
It seems that the use of stars and stripes for marketing is becoming a cliché. Many of the local car ads I’ve seen in the past few years have had the stars and stripes splashed across them somehow. And I think about all the small, brandless businesses that have taken up red, white, and blue, stars and stripes for their image. The American Flag Store web site, even offers patriotic-themed signs for your business.
Now, I understand that since 9/11, it’s become hip to be patriotic. Remember how prolific the American flag image was in those first months after that horrific event? It seemed as though every car in America had a patriotic bumper sticker, or magnetic cling. I remember our local newspaper had even printed a full-page red, white, and blue flag to proudly display in your living room window. The flag was everywhere. At first, the gestures of patriotism were sincere. We came together as a nation, using the flag, and our patriotism as the glue to bond people of different race, religion, and culture into a single body.
I wonder how long it will take for the general public to see that simply adding the American flag to something doesn’t increase it’s branding strength. I also wonder if the recent popularity of commercializing the American flag is in some way a detriment to the symbol of our nation’s flag.
Target right on target
August 28, 2006
Last night I watched the Emmys. I always do. I don’t know why – I don’t watch much television, but I always feel drawn to the award ceremony. I can’t explain it, just like I can’t explain why someone would vote for Tony Shaloub of Monk fame instead of the brilliant Steve Carell. I mean, really.
The broadcast was sponsored by Target. Because of this, Target was given ample opportunity to promote its retail stores, its style, and its benefits to a national audience.
They did smashingly well. Instead of going the usual route – throwing a constant repeat of the same four :60 spots – they created at least 20 different commercials, each one highlighting one of the many designers and styles featured in their stores. And while, as far as I know, not one commercial was repeated, you knew each one was for Target.
What does this mean? Target used their time in the spotlight not to bludgeon us with a single message, but to slowly gain our trust, softly reminding us every few minutes that Target isn’t just another K-Mart or Wal-Mart. They have style. They have fashion. They have famous designers and trendy offerings, people who aren’t afraid to say they create products for a retail store. They know how to cater to the highbrow needs of people who hate Wal-Mart. Target used the entire three-hour broadcast to describe their classiness by giving us a variety of :60, :30, and :15 spots. Variety, as they say, was the spice of Target’s campaign.
This shouldn’t be a surprise – Target recently took over New Yorker magazine, becoming the first advertiser to sponsor a single issue. Each ad was tastefully drawn in the typical New Yorker style and was given only two guidelines: they needed the Target bull’s-eye and a New York scene.
Through their use of bright colors, wonderful design, and proper demographics, Target is quickly raising its brand awareness in markets that otherwise wouldn’t shop at a retail chain. Meanwhile, it’s building a base of consumers who respect style, who shop because they enjoy it. Target has class, now. And shopping at Target has become an experience.
