Branding is an important part of any businesses. It helps make them more recognisable to the public and can have a major impact on their reputation and how they are seen in people eyes. Rebranding is not uncommon, with most long standing companies having rebranded at some point. Pepsi, for example, have rebranded more than once a decade. Below are some examples of both well-known successful and unsuccessful rebrands.

Successful Rebrands

Harley Davidson

The famous motorbike makers were struggling in the 1980’s and needed a turnaround to prevent themselves from going under. The solution, it was decided, was simple: create a better product. Even though Harley Davidson always had a brand they were no longer making a profit and focussing on quality bikes became their priority. This had the impact of giving them a reputation for quality, meaning they could sell more bikes at a high price. This change gave them the quality to match the brand and made the business profitable again.

Starbucks

Today Starbucks is one of the most recognisable global brands. As with many businesses, one of the most recognisable things about them is their green logo. It wasn’t always this colour, though; it was previously just black and white. In 1992 they altered their logo, with the most obvious change being the transformation from a black outer strip to a green one. Even though the text and font, as well as the main logo image, were also changed, this change from black to green had a major impact on their image. The outer strip has recently been removed from the logo entirely, removing all mention of ‘Starbucks’, showing that the brand is so well-know that this is no longer required.

Burberry

For a time in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s Burberry’s public image was in tatters. The wearing of Burberry products was associated with gang culture and violence. The company made much effort to disassociate themselves from this by adapting their styles to make them appear more stylish. This has been a success and shows that it is possible to alter a negative image through branding.

McDonalds

McDonalds has been much blamed for the increasing number of people, especially young people, who are considered obese. Even though this image has been hard to shift, they have made a start by incorporating more healthy foods, such as salads, into their menu and marketing themselves as a healthy eating option. They have even gone into the increasingly popular coffee market. Although they haven’t lost their reputation for cheap, unhealthy food, it has softened, and profits have increased.

Unsuccessful Rebrands

Tropicana

A branding change for Tropicana orange juice is a great example of an unnecessary change that had a negative impact. So wrong, in fact, that they later reversed the change. Tropicana replaced an orange with a straw in it with an image of a glass full of orange juice on their cartons. It was not a success and they quickly switched back. This shows that altering a successful brand can be a mistake and needs to be carefully thought through.

Capital One

Capital One made a mistake in a logo change. They increased the size of the text and added a red swoosh. While to some this change might appear more interesting and exciting it didn’t work, perhaps because it didn’t really fit the industry they are in. Being a financial company, trustworthiness is more important than appearing exciting. The previous, more corporate logo was more suitable. This shows that companies should think about what their product is, and who they are targeting, before making branding decisions.

SciFi Channel

The SciFi Channel made an embarrassing mistake when they decided to change their name from the ‘SciFi’ channel to the ‘SyFy’ channel. The new spelling is a slang term for Syphilis. The lesson here is to make sure you do your research before choosing on a name.

There are a number of reasons for altering branding. It may be that a company is struggling and needs an improved reputation. Making a brand more up-to-date can be another reason as sticking with an old logo, for example, can make a brand seem dated and out of touch. Companies shouldn’t rush into a rebrand, though, and shouldn’t rebrand for the sake of it without thinking it through. The public may recognise a company due to its branding, and they need to be careful not to ruin this affection.

This article is a guest post written by Andrew Marshall. Andrew works for Moore-Wilson, a London based web and graphic design agency.

This post entitled: Famous Successful and Unsuccessful Rebrands is written by Stuart and originally featured on Logoholic.org - Logo Design Blog | Graphic Design Inspiration

Logoholic’s Branding of the Month for April is an easy one. It comes from Demian Conrad Design, a Swiss based design studio that specialises in cultural events and projects related to the leisure industry – the project in question is the new graphic identity of the Camerata de Lausanne.

The logotype is not mind-blowing by any means, it’s minimal and functional. What caught my eye was the conceptual pattern based on sound itself. The geometry of the waves to be precise.

For the Camerata de Lausanne, I looked for a way of visualising sound, but without using images from the world of music per se (notes, instruments, etc.

 

The posters [below] show how these patterns come to play within the brand. The geometry and simplicity is beautiful, not only representing the elegance of classical music, but backing up the technical level of the music itself in a solid identity.

Their website follows suit accordingly, developing the concept further:

The IT company Ergopix also helped design the website by creating a Chladni motif which constantly remodels itself. As a result, the home page visual changes shape according to the time of day. Finally, portraits of musicians were made by the Lausanne photographer Cédric Widmer, whose overriding aim was to depict the particular sensitivity inherent in each one. The graphic identity of the Camerata de Lausanne is dynamic; it adapts to the time of day, to the context, and therefore breaks free from the myth of a fixed identity.

This post entitled: Camerata de Lausanne is written by Stuart and originally featured on Logoholic.org - Logo Design Blog | Graphic Design Inspiration

Højmark Cycles produces custom-made bicycles from the workshop in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg district. Their new logo and brand was created by Ineo Designlab based in Denmark.

The custom logotype fits the company perfectly, balancing the constructed form in a beautiful level of minimalism throughout the brand.

With an uncompromising focus on craftsmanship and a keen eye for detail, representing Højmark Cycles a genuine love for cycling in all its forms.

 

This post entitled: Højmark Cycles is written by Stuart and originally featured on Logoholic.org - Logo Design Blog | Graphic Design Inspiration

Gotta love the simplicity and colour scheme in this logo for Optica Eyewear Store from Vlad Likh.

The moving GIF variant was what initially caught my eye, leading onto the realisation that the logo itself doesn’t remain static within the brand, in face the business cards show a range of permutations of angle.

The above pattern shows that there are additional elements that ‘fit’ the style of the primary logo nicely – not sure where the pattern is used though, maybe within additional collateral?

What do you think of the Optica Eyewear store branding? Too playful or just enough personality to pull it off?

This post entitled: Optica Eyewear Store is written by Stuart and originally featured on Logoholic.org - Logo Design Blog | Graphic Design Inspiration

March’s Branding of the Month comes from Brazilian designer Igor Berck in his work for Silencio.

The above logo, cut and chopped is what initially drew my interest – and that’s only the start point into a conceptually and aesthetically interesting brand identity.

The logo uses a modified version of Gotham light font, the font does not have serifs, low-contrast and has also opted to increase the space between letters, these changes contribute to an enjoyable read and reinforce the concept of silence when they generate greater distances than expected, featuring a break. We use cuts and shifts on the letters of the logo to refer to a characteristic of the work of Attila Meireles and also as a way to strengthen the fragile silence, stop the cuts but at the same time unite the letters the same way that breaks the silence when There is some noise, but the noise starts as soon as this ceases.

I struggled to gather more information other than what’s presented in the portfolio, and thanks to Google translate, Silencio is an audio-visual event staged within an art gallery. The posters for the event [below] offer little more information than the surreal / abstract geometric forms, art in their own right. But that’s where the interest lies. It doesn’t scream about itself like the advertising we’re used to seeing every day, it draws in the people with the curious minds, the people that are likely to go to such an event.

No sound or noise, the act of not speaking, what is said without sound be silent goes beyond literal definitions, silence is the decisive moment, the moment is that everything means nothing, a moment or a long period of time where we fill the void and provides thoughts, ideas, desires and wishes. For more powerful and profound that is, silence is still fragile, balancing a momentary existence so suddenly he arrives, but if vai, just a sigh, a bird or an oversight in order to break it.

For the design of the brand adopted this concept in order to reference the visual artist who uses it as identification, but also for exploring the varied moments of silence and provide a trial of this moment so important for visual communication.

This post entitled: Silencio is written by Stuart and originally featured on Logoholic.org - Logo Design Blog | Graphic Design Inspiration