By now we’ve all heard the jokes about the unfortunately named Apple iPad tablet computer. (We’ll leave it to you to fill in the punchline for the name of a hypothetical widescreen version.) It’s clear that the company was a bit tone-deaf when the name was chosen, exposing Apple to the kind of derisive humor usually reserved for Microsoft.

American Graphic Design and Advertising (AGDA), an organization presenting the best of corporate branding design work from the nation’s leading design firms, has recently awarded BrandLogic and Pepsi Bottling Group a Green/Sustainable Design award for the 2007 PBG Corporate Responsibility Report. The innovative report, titled Act! Our Commitment to Making a Difference, covers a variety of sustainability issues for PBG’s various audiences, including customers, investors, employees and potential employees.

With the holiday season upon us, we’re taking a look at one of the big hit gifts of the last few years and how a leading industry company leveraged it to create a brand-building opportunity.

In our 2^nd episode of BAMcast we discuss building a community around your brand asset management site. You can listen here or subscribe via iTunes. If you have questions, comments, or ideas for an upcoming show, leave a comment here or send us feedback to bamcast@brandlogic.com

Podcast: Download (44.3MB)

The partial unveiling of the new AOL identity earlier this week produced quite a few smiles, snickers, moments of reflection in the brand community. How do we explain our rush to judgment for the new AOL logo, compliments of Wolff Olins?

This is the inaugural episode of BAMcast where we discuss the basics of brand asset management and how it can benefit your organization. You can listen here or subscribe via iTunes. If you have questions, comments, or ideas for an upcoming show, leave a comment here or send us feedback to bamcast@brandlogic.com

Podcast: Download (22.8MB)

In my last blog entry I noted that some brands have taken on a certain leadership role in society. They have become today’s heroes – supplanting individual luminaries in that role – and as a society we’ve become very comfortable with the idea of turning to them for invention and innovation.

What does this mean for businesses today? It’s both an opportunity and a potential trap. Reaching the brand status of an Apple or a Google is certainly a worthy goal, but first we must ask what makes one brand a “hero” and another a “zero.”

Well-established companies with strong recognition face an interesting challenge when they seek to redirect or revitalize their brand. Change needs to be signaled and a new message is called for, yet there might be considerable value in preserving the existing brand mark. It’s a conundrum: how can a brand identity be redirected without also changing the company’s mark? The answer is to look not at the mark itself, but at what surrounds it and supports it: the context.

As a design professional, the recent flap over IKEA’s decision to change its typeface from Futura to Verdana really struck close to home for me.

IKEA has long been held up as a prime example of good design that reflects and contributes to the brand. Futura is a very clean, contemporary typeface that dovetails perfectly with IKEA’s Swedish heritage and streamlined, efficient product line.

Having had one of the big “oh” birthdays this year, I’ve reached an age at which I find myself reflecting on how the world has changed since I was a kid. One thing that has struck a chord with me is how much we follow and look to big companies for new ideas. Brands have become our heroes.