BY Armin

In Brief: So Very In Brief

A couple of weeks ago I e-mailed Michael Johnson — who puts the johnson in johnson banks — to see if he would be interested in doing a joint April Fools. I had the idea that it should be a global brand or something very American. Bryony and I had, at some point, narrowed it down to MTV, the NBA and Verizon. I ran the idea of MTV and Verizon to Michael, skipping the NBA because it would have been maybe overly obvious, and we settled on Verizon. What’s funny is that Michael thought it was pronounced Ver-ee-zon instead of Ver-aye-zon, and that’s where the idea for Very first came up. Within an hour, Michael sent me the concept for “Very” in those bubbles along with most of the wording ideas. Two days later, most of what we posted online was ready. Some comments wondered about the amount of man power and time needed to pull this off: Not much.

I did some minor refinements and suggested introducing the tag line to bridge the Very idea with Verizon. Hence, “So Very… Verizon.” What I wasted the most time on was the silly Flash animation. I haven’t done any Flash in, at least, three years and I could barely find my way around the latest version. If someone looked at the FLA file they would mock me. The domain was, as some clever commenters noted, purchased at GoDaddy and hosted on our UCllc host. I also wrote the press release, which is way harder than I thought. For every fake name I put I always wanted to put Paul Rand’s original name, Peretz Rosenbaum, but I thought that would give it away as an April Fools for our knowledgeable readers.

Last year, the biggest tell tales that Ford had been an April Fools were that there was no outside source confirming the redesign, no press release, that there was no design firm attached and that no one knew who our prankster, Marko Savic, was. This year we went to the extent of covering all those loose ends. And you have all made it extremely difficult for next year.

Pictured above: Our FTP.

DATE: Apr.02.2009CATEGORY: In Brief 43 COMMENTS

Tim’s comment is:

Congrats on a job well done. Next year, you'll likely need to do something like fake a CNBC interview about the rebranding, posted on YouTube. How about one with Sergey Brin discussing Google's rebranding as "Gugle" to save the bandwidth of a 5-letter name vs. 6?

On Apr.02.2009 at 08:39 AM

Erik at Logo Critiques’s comment is:

Thanks for the entertainment yesterday :) I woke yesterday prepared and wasn't about to be fooled. I had considered a prank for my blog, but thought about it too late. Anyway, thanks for a wonderful blog & resource Armin.

On Apr.02.2009 at 08:39 AM

awesomerobot’s comment is:

The biggest giveaway that it was fake? It was released on April 1st. You could create an entire corporation as a cover story and get it published in national news and I'll still be skeptical as long as it falls on April 1st.

It's still fun though!

On Apr.02.2009 at 08:44 AM

Scott’s comment is:

Nice work. It was a fun prank.

Next year, though, when you get into the press release-writing, keep in mind that most "launch" sites have more than just one, single press release and nothing else.

Between that and how pitiful the cloud looked on the headset ... dead giveaways. Loved the ads, though. Well done.

Ha.

On Apr.02.2009 at 08:47 AM

colormist’s comment is:

Awesome work. I admit, I fell for it. Me and my coworker were critiquing the change. He liked the old logo, I liked the fun feel of the new. The Crocs were the tip off as to something wasn't right. The comments were what made me slap my head. That was the only prank (so far) that I actually fell for yesterday. I'm still waiting today to see if the two reported births were real.

Great work!

On Apr.02.2009 at 08:51 AM

Allan’s comment is:

For future pranks, it might be helpful to have some real news to release at the same time. Obviously you can't control this completely, but if only one story comes out on April 1, the odds are high that it's fake.

Nice effort, though.

On Apr.02.2009 at 09:10 AM

Peter’s comment is:

I still like the fake one better

On Apr.02.2009 at 09:13 AM

Another Peter’s comment is:

I also like the fake one better. I'm So Very Disappointed :)

Anyway, this is the only joke I fell for yesterday. Congrats!

On Apr.02.2009 at 09:18 AM

Efren’s comment is:

Great job! That's all I have to say for now.

On Apr.02.2009 at 09:19 AM

lodenmuse’s comment is:

Next year, how about trying a logo that really needs improvement, like 7-11, Fifth Third Bank, or..... Verizon.

On Apr.02.2009 at 09:55 AM

Geoff’s comment is:

I was so impressed with the execution and length you went to pull this off that I chose to share the ruse with my Marketing 101 students, last night.

In addition to the creativity, it was an important lesson on how important April Fools Day has become for marketers.

I'd be curious to know what the spike in traffic was to the Verizon and johnson banks sites. And...how much business this might generate?

Judging by a few posts, perhaps verizon will lose customers for their lack of creativity! :)

Well done!

On Apr.02.2009 at 10:01 AM

jRod’s comment is:

yeah, i think the biggest disappointment was the fact that "Ver-ee-zon" really isn't changing their logo after all. I am about to see a lot of it here in Little Rock as they take over Alltel and i wish it was a lot better than it currently is.

IMO, the bigger and more grandiose you try to make this look the more unbelievable it is. the simple fact that all we have to do is look down at iCal on our dock to determine the authenticity of your post makes it all that much more difficult.

On Apr.02.2009 at 10:06 AM

felix sockwell’s comment is:

i have to say this might be the best fake ID i've seen in a while. and i'm the king of cheap fake crap. cheers to J/B/ Armin for a solid enterprise. if only Verizon would take notice/ change with the times. (full disclosure: i worked on the Verizon ID (iconography) with circle.com back in 1999/2000. I remember begging to work up some ideas for the main logo, which at the time resided with Landor (just before it headed south).

On Apr.02.2009 at 10:07 AM

Leland Witter’s comment is:

@lodenmuse - I always wanted Fifth Third's tagline to be "We're Two Thirds Better!"

On Apr.02.2009 at 10:20 AM

Brendan’s comment is:

Loved it! Thanks so much for doing such an elaborate hoax. :D

On Apr.02.2009 at 10:21 AM

Steve K’s comment is:

Next year you’ll have to do a double bluff and post a real redesign and try to pass it off as an April Fool’s joke. It’s the only way to fool all the commenters as next year we’ll all be too savvy.

On Apr.02.2009 at 10:44 AM

Chad Kaufman’s comment is:

Love it. I can't wait to see what happens next April. Perhaps save a major corporate redesign for April 1st so everyone thinks it's a joke. That would really confuse everyone.

Then again, we have to remember the biggest April fools this year... The Tropicana undo (major Cmd + Z to the packaging)

On Apr.02.2009 at 10:45 AM

Kevin Zwirble’s comment is:

Talk about pulling the wool over my eyes. I was ready to comment on the Verizon rebrand until I read everyone else's comments. I decided not to realzing how very stupid I would look. Good thing I didn't look stupid that time!

On Apr.02.2009 at 10:48 AM

Pappy’s comment is:

Next year you should actually rebrand Verizon for a day. Then Verizon wold be pulling a prank and you would be pulling a fast one over all these silly posters.

Contact Number for this company: 800-621-9900
Verizon Corporate Headquarters
140 West St.
New York, NY 10007 (Map)
Phone: 212-395-1000
Fax: 212-571-1897
Toll Free: 800-621-9900

On Apr.02.2009 at 11:03 AM

marnie’s comment is:

I think Kevin points to a good way to trip folks up: moderate and hold all comments for a while. I think you'd catch quite a few more folks who would otherwise be tipped off by the comments.

It was beautiful and fun, though, and if I hadn't JUST clicked over from another prank that reminded me of the day (the Guardian's announcement to stop the presses and publish solely via twitter) I might have fallen for it myself.

On Apr.02.2009 at 11:05 AM

Jim Walls’s comment is:

Brilliant work, guys. You got me. I was telling everyone yesterday that Verizon was finally rebranding.

On Apr.02.2009 at 11:28 AM

GWG’s comment is:

Even though I knew it was an AFJ, I really would have preferred the redesign.

On Apr.02.2009 at 11:30 AM

cmh_geek’s comment is:

The most ingenious bit for me was that the supposed identity was not set to launch until July...thus downplaying the fact that it hadn't yet appeared on any of Verizon's websites or TV commercials.

For 2010, consider skipping a fake logo and holding off on posting a real brand redesign on April 1 instead. You'd probably catch even more people that way.

On Apr.02.2009 at 11:39 AM

Andrew Sabatier’s comment is:

Exceed expectations (or don't bother): wise words from Seth... http://snipurl.com/site/index

Quit while you're ahead.

A.

On Apr.02.2009 at 11:39 AM

Andrew Sabatier’s comment is:

Exceed expectations (or don't bother): wise words from Seth... http://snipurl.com/f2xay

Quit while you're ahead.

A.

On Apr.02.2009 at 11:41 AM

ellis’s comment is:

Kudos- I was definitely part of the 1 in 5!

On Apr.02.2009 at 11:52 AM

John Colucci’s comment is:

I am SO very disappointed as Another Peter said. I LOVE the branding, wouldn't it be funny if Verizon reached out to you? It's killer.

On Apr.02.2009 at 12:11 PM

Pookie’s comment is:

This must be an age thing. I'm in my late 40s, and as a kid, "April Fools" was a big deal. In the 60s/70s, it was a "joke"-a-minute, all during the school day. So, April 1st is a day during which you NEVER believe anything you read. I don't think that most folks under 35 had the same experience. Of course, your posters can tell me if I'm wrong.

On Apr.02.2009 at 12:17 PM

Rodrigo Müller’s comment is:

despite of the skype-ish look it is REALLY better than the one they use nowadays. congratulations for the effort on this prank, loved it!

On Apr.02.2009 at 12:20 PM

Lauren ’s comment is:

I totally fell for it! Until I got the comments, I fully believed it and was already formulating a response.

It did get me thinking about Verizon's logo though, and how dated and unsophisticated it is.

I'm so gullible! Congrats on the great April Fools and what can I say about your FTP - wow?

On Apr.02.2009 at 12:46 PM

Pamela’s comment is:

What's crazy, is that the 'new' logo was ridiculous enough to believe. So many companies are jumping on what's trendy these days, so much in fact that I believed it.

In short: Fooled me! :P LOL!

On Apr.02.2009 at 01:17 PM

Char’s comment is:

Fantastic!
Hahahaha
You fooled me for a little bit though ;)

On Apr.02.2009 at 03:45 PM

Tony Spaeth’s comment is:

I salivated, and at the same time dreaded, writing a Review. Fabulous satire, Armin, although I am not sure Michael Johnson has well served "brand British Design" (otherwise enjoying an uptick this year). On a more serious note, it feels like your initiative has put the considerable weight of your community behind "Verizon, World's Worst Logo."

Ingrid Berthold would agree.

On Apr.02.2009 at 04:57 PM

koyo’s comment is:

You fooled me TOO!

On Apr.02.2009 at 07:36 PM

Chuck Spidell’s comment is:

This was one of the best design pranks ever. I remember opening the page and thinking in delight: no way, that annoying brand finally got an update. Applying the brand across the print ads and phones kicked it in the can. Next time, you'll have to brand an airline or a fleet of electric cars.

On Apr.03.2009 at 12:50 AM

spencer’s comment is:

I don't think you'll be able to get away with another prank next year. Everyone will remember the beautiful egg that on our faces and we'll be on the lookout. Lol, at least I know I will. :)

On Apr.03.2009 at 01:07 AM

john does amsterdam’s comment is:

you had me; i'll admit it.

but damn - that was clever. verizon should rip that campaign from you - fresh, fun, connects with a young demographic and above all - that awful old logo was banished.

On Apr.03.2009 at 03:12 AM

Philip Dhingra’s comment is:

Oh man, you got me! I even shared it on Google Reader, going "WTF, but always hated the old logo"

On Apr.03.2009 at 03:37 AM

Anonymous’s comment is:

Oh, well done indeed - that's the only April Fools I've been caught out on thus far (as far as I know anyways) - bravo! ;)

On Apr.03.2009 at 04:06 AM

Mongoose’s comment is:

I was pretty sure it was an April Fool's, based on the timing; That said,t he new logo being better, the care and work you took in covering most of your tracks made me just gullible enough to leave me a touch doubtful.

Very... good work. :)

On Apr.03.2009 at 12:20 PM

Nathan’s comment is:

I admit, you got me, too. I knew it was April 1st, but just didn't put it together and the case was so compelling! Great work.

On Apr.03.2009 at 11:31 PM

Jeremy Wayne’s comment is:

That was pretty cool! I kind of wished they were getting a redesign. I know a few people that have Verizon and their phones will talk and the woman's voice does say Very-zon; maybe it was originally meant to be spoken that way?

On Apr.04.2009 at 12:46 AM

David B.’s comment is:

I just wish my cell phone looked like your mockups! :)

On Apr.09.2009 at 02:34 PM