Opinion BY Armin

P&G is Over the Moon

Established in 1837, P&G is one of the largest (if not the largest) consumer packaged goods company in the world with operations in 75 countries and more than $83 billion in sales in 2012. Its two key areas — beauty and grooming and household care — include some of the most well-known consumer brands like Pampers, Gillette, Tide, Ariel, Downy, Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Olay, Oral-B, Crest, Dawn, and Always. Earlier this year, without calling much attention to itself, P&G introduced a new logo designed by Landor.

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Opinion BY Armin

Kering Goes Owl Out with New Branding

Established in 1963 as Pinault — later Pinault-Printemps, later Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, most recently PPR, and completely renamed as Kering this past March — is one of the most comprehensive parent company of luxury brands, including Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Brioni, Christopher Kane, and Stella McCartney among others as well as sports brand Puma. Family-owned since its inception, Kering is present in more than 120 countries, it employs 33,000 people and generates 9.7 billion euros in revenue. The new name was created internally with help from Havas Lifestyle, who are also credited with designing the logo and identity while Dragon Rouge is credited with brand strategy and the signature.

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Opinion BY Armin

The Future of Fox is Now

Hinted to as early as July of 2012 and officially announced this past December, Rupert Mudorch’s News Corporation is splitting into two separate businesses. The first, to remain named News Corporation will handle all the publishing properties — newspapers and magazines — like The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post, with the former’s managing editor, Robert Thompson, as CEO. The second, to be renamed 21st Century Fox will handle the entertainment properties — cable and television channels, filmed entertainment, and direct satellite broadcasting businesses — including the FOX network, 20th Century FOX, FX, among dozens of other channels with Rupert Murdoch as CEO. Absolutely every single property will retain its existing name and logo. The name, 21st Century Fox, will serve as the parent company only and the logo — announced this past Thursday via an e-mail to employees — will only be a business-to-business mark. It was designed by Pentagram partners Michael Gericke and Emily Oberman.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Marketwired

About: (Est. 1994) “Partnering with companies of all sizes — from start-ups to Fortune 500 enterprises — Marketwired is an innovative, social communications company offering best-in-class global news distribution and reporting. Powered by Sysomos, Marketwired’s products also provide state-of-the-art social media monitoring and analytics. This critical business intelligence provides instant and unlimited access to all social media conversations, allowing brands to see what’s happening, why it’s happening, and who’s driving the conversations.”

Design by: N/A.

Ed.’s Notes: Less than a year ago we covered Marketwire’s logo redesign and it received favorable reviews. Sad to see it convert into this monstrosity and lame name. A video introducing the new name below (or after the jump) — try very hard to not want to punch your computer repeatedly while watching it..

Relevant links: Press release (mostly about the name and business strategy).

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A B-Side BY Armin

Blue Ridge Foundation

About: (Est. 1999) “Blue Ridge Foundation was founded by John A. Griffin, President of Blue Ridge Capital, to foster ground-breaking ideas for social change […]. Over our first decade of incubating social innovations, Blue Ridge has helped to build start-up nonprofits from the concept stage; replicated best-in-class organizations by launching their local NYC offices; fostered collective impact efforts across our portfolio; and offered insights to government drawn from the work of our grantees.”

Design by: Hyperakt.

Ed.’s Notes: I like the implied tittle of “I” and “L” in “BLUE”, and nice typography overall. Bigger view of the logo and some applications below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: Hyperakt case study.

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Opinion BY Armin

Quirky Community

Established in 2009, Quirky brings inventors’ ideas to life and to market through an open process where community members provide ideas, which are then voted on, and each week the top five are discussed by the Quirky team to see which ones they’ll develop. They have launched over 300 products — from flexible power strips to egg yolk separators — that are sold online and across nearly 200 retail partners. A little over two years ago, Quirky redesigned its logo and last week it announced a new logo and identity designed in-house.

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Opinion BY Armin

Flexible Harsh is the New Sexy Ugly

Sticking with a theme early this week, today we are featuring another flexible and (not self- but still) generative identity. Although the company for which it is for does not meet the criteria for the kind of company that typically makes it unto Brand New, I’m always interested in showing approaches to identity that break out from those regularly featured here. Established in 2002, Fluidity is a Los Angeles, CA-based design consultancy that specializes in architectural and landscape integrations of water: fountains, pools, waterfalls, and more. A new, fluid — yeah, I know, I know, easy pun — identity has been designed by Chicago, IL-based thirst.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Cabot

About: (Est. 1882) “Cabot Corporation is a global specialty chemicals and performance materials company, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The company is the leading producer of rubber and specialty grade carbon black, activated carbon, inkjet colorants, cesium formate drilling fluids, fumed silica, aerogel, and elastomer composites.”

Design by: N/A.

Ed.’s Notes: I feel like we’ve seen this a dozen times for a corporate logo but, hey, it works and it kills a double-swoosh logo. A rather nice brand video below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: Cabot press release.

Select quote: “Cabot’s new corporate logo, developed to support the new brand, connects the company’s past with its future. To honor Cabot’s heritage, the new logo maintains the all-black, all-capital letters of ‘CABOT.’ The new chevron, meanwhile, represents the brand theme of advancing. The red, orange and yellow color palette emphasizes Cabot’s approachable, collaborative spirit, and energetic approach to innovation and customer service. The added dimension and colors highlight the many facets of Cabot’s businesses.”

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A B-Side BY Armin

Western Union

About: (Est. 1856) “Western Union connects people and businesses around the globe by providing fast, reliable and convenient ways to move money. Our 160-year history and 510,000 Western Union Agent locations in more than 200 countries and territories strengthen our commitment to offering our services in every corner of the globe.”

Design by: N/A.

Ed.’s Notes: Monogram view below. There is something interesting about this or at least there is some potential there for the WU monogram to be interesting.

Relevant links: N/A.

A B-Side BY Armin

White Knight Laundry

About: (Est. 1904) White Knight Laundry offers domestic laundry services, business and industrial laundry and linen hire operating both in the B2B sector — industry, hotels, restaurants, education and healthcare — as well as serving individual households throughout the South and Southeast of England. They hold a Royal Warrant, meaning they wash the Queen’s undies. (Or not, not sure).

Design by: Coley Porter Bell.

Ed.’s Notes: Haven’t seen a photo-based logo in a while. This is fun. Bigger view below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: N/A.

Provided quote: “White Knight holds the Royal Warrant. This informed the design of the new logo which is based on pieces of White Knight’s linen, folded origami-style, to create a knight’s helmet. It is set against a regal purple background, with lettering in a crisp white Century Gothic. Importantly, it has been created in such a way that it can be consistently reproduced across a very wide range of applications, materials and media.”

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