A B-Side BY Armin

Actavis

About: (Est. 1956) “Actavis [combination of Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and the Actavis Group] is a global, integrated specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing, manufacturing and distributing generic, brand and biosimilar products. The Company has global and U.S. headquarters in Parsippany, New Jersey, USA, and international headquarters in Zug, Switzerland. Actavis is the world’s third-largest generics prescription drug manufacturer.”

Design by: Lippincott.

Ed.’s Notes: Bigger view of the logo below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: Actavis CEO message. Lippincott press release.

Select quote: “Our new icon speaks to our Company’s fast-evolving business, as well as its dynamic culture. A close look reveals a “W” shape emerging from a shaded “A”, a subtle historical reference to the Watson heritage and acquisition of Actavis.

Our new color stands out in the universe of pharmaceutical industry competitors and reflects growth — a fundamental foundation for our Company and its future. The result is a new, powerful and accessible visualization that celebrates our Company’s emergence as a global pharmaceutical leader, and visually defines our focus on growth and success in the future.”

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Opinion BY Armin

Triangle is as Triangle does

Established in 1880 and selling educational materials since the 1890s, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) today is one of the leading and the world’s largest providers of pre-K-12 education solutions and one of the longest-established publishing houses. Further official description: “HMH’s interactive, results-driven education solutions are utilized by 60 million students in 120 countries, and its renowned and awarded novels, non-fiction, children’s books and reference works are enjoyed by readers throughout the world.” Today, HMH introduced a new identity designed by New York, NY-based Lippincott.

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Opinion BY Armin

eBay Settles for Lowest Bid

Established in 1995, eBay is “the world’s largest online marketplace” with 100 million active users around the world that have generated over $10 billion through 350 million listings in seventeen years. I have contributed many times, most notably the purchase of an Atari 2600 in 2001 — not as fun as I remembered it being in 1982. But I digress. eBay has evolved from an auction-only dynamic — that could create some of the most heart-pounding moments in e-commerce if you really cared about getting an item — to a less-than-exciting but very powerful shopping platform with “Buy It Now!” buttons with fixed prices that now account for 65% of items sold. Going to Best Buy is easier and gets you better prices sometimes. With a new website and online experience reportedly coming in mic-October, eBay has announced a new logo designed by Lippincott. A dedicated announcement page is here.

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Opinion BY Armin

Shutterstock has you in its Sight

Established in 2003, Shutterstock is a provider of stock footage, stock photography, vectors, and illustrations, with a library that includes more than 19 million royalty-free images and over 500,000 footage clips from more than 35,000 contributing artists. Shutterstock gained some recognition for going against the pay-per-image-and-its-resolution with a subscription model that allows users to download as many as 25 images a day. This week Shutterstock introduced a new identity guided by Matt Angorn, Shutterstock Vice President and Creative Director, with Lippincott.

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Opinion BY Armin

Be C Spired

Established in 1988 as Cellular South, C Spire, as it has been renamed this September, is the largest privately held wireless provider in the United States and the 9th largest carrier in the U.S.. Perhaps not the most impressive bragging rights, but it’s a start. One impressive bragging right, though, is that C Spire got the right to sell the iPhone, ahead of bigger players like T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular. C Spire has over 1,200 employees and 75 retail stores across the South, mainly in Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida, where the majority of its one million customers reside. With the name change came a new identity, both created by Lippincott.

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Opinion BY Armin

ForeSeeing Arrows

Established in 2001, ForeSee Results “measures satisfaction across customer touch points and delivers critical insights on where to prioritize improvements for maximum impact.” With 200 employees and 58 million completed surveys ForeSee Results has become one of the most reliable tools for measuring customer satisfaction and is quoted regularly in the media. In August, the company announced it would be shortening its name to ForeSee and introduced a new logo designed by Lippincott.

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Opinion BY Armin

K with a Heart of Gold

Established in 1990, Unitrin is a provider of automobile, homeowners, life, and health insurance to individuals and small businesses. Unitrin has over 7,000 employees and counts with more than 6 million policyholders. Although probably less well known, it competes with Nationwide and State Farm insurance, two companies with more aggressive advertising campaigns. In 2002, Unitrin acquired Kemper Independence Insurance and last week it announced that it would be adopting the Kemper name. The new identity has been designed by Lippincott.

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Opinion BY Armin

Office Doodles

Originally established in 1960 in Los Angeles, Viking Direct, supplier of office products to small and medium businesses, first appeared in the UK in 1990 and Australia in 1993 establishing a strong mail order presence overseas. It was purchased by Office Depot in 1998 and by 2002 had expanded its catalog and web delivery service to Switzerland, Spain, and Portugal. This month Viking Direct changed its name to just Viking and introduced a new identity designed by Lippincott (who also have a spiffy new website) that premiered with the mailing of over 30 million catalogues to customers in the UK and Ireland.

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Opinion BY Armin

All right Mr. Schultz, I’m Ready for my Close-up

Starbucks needs no introduction but just in case: Founded in 1971 in Seattle, Starbucks is the world’s leading coffee retailer with more than 16,000 stores in 50 countries (this despite numerous closings in the last year or so). Starbucks also manages Tazo tea, Ethos water, and Seattle’s Best Coffee. And, part of the reason why we are here today, Starbucks sells more than coffee and its stores offer more than coffee (Wiiii-Fiiii says I in an Oprah wail). Yesterday, Starbucks announced that beginning in March, to coincide with their 40th anniversary, their brand would be making a bold visual evolution. Namely (pun intended) dropping its name from the logo. The new identity has been developed in-house — Starbucks has one of the strongest internal teams in a big corporation — in partnership with Lippincott.

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Opinion BY Armin

A Dell-icate Redesign

Established in 1984 by Michael Dell in our hometown of Austin, TX, Dell is one of the largest technology companies in the world with 96,000 employees and it is currently number 38 of the Fortune 500. Well known for its hardware, shipping 110,000 “systems” (laptops, desktops, and netbooks) every day around the world, Dell also provides a number of IT solutions for businesses and other organizations. Around summertime of this year, Dell began implementing an evolution of its very well recognized logo. The brand group at Dell was kind and resilient enough to share with us a bit of the back story. This implementation is merely the visible result of a process that started in 2007 when Dell announced an initiative to consolidate its more than 800 creative agencies around the world — 800! — that worked with its brand resulting in a “highly fractured brand for Dell.” As an example, at one point, “Dell was using more than 15 different typefaces — and that was only for English.” In 2009 Dell decided it was time to revisit its brand positioning “while analyzing why the brand value had been declining (most notably) in the past five years.”

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Opinion BY Armin

A Moving Ship

Established in 1927, Mayflower Transit is one the United States’ biggest moving companies and in corporate speak they claim to be “the most recognized name in moving.” Having used moving companies when we moved from Chicago to New York and then New York to Austin, the moving industry is one of the most annoying, frustrating and scam-prone I have experienced or researched. So saying they are the most recognized name in moving is basically bragging they are the most recognized name in “things I don’t want to deal with because they suck.” So, yes, that gives them an advantage point I guess. But that’s enough of my personal grievances. Back in May or perhaps earlier, Mayflower introduced a new logo and this week it launched a new national TV campaign with a rather creepy spot by Grey Advertising.

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Opinion BY Armin

The United and Continental Airline Mashup

Yesterday, United and Continental Airlines, the third- and fourth-largest U.S. carriers respectively, announced they would be merging, creating the first-largest carrier. While the media focuses on numbers of flights, ramifications for shareholders and what will happen to customers’ frequent flyer miles we focus our attention on what really matters: The literal merger of two infinitely different brands. As I see it, United has always had the cooler, hipper personality with its Saul Bass-designed tulip icon and Pentagram-crafted wordmark (and livery) as well as its lovely mid-00s TV advertising campaign by Fallon. Continental, on the other hand and despite its globe logo having matching Saul Bass origins is, well, bland. Competent, but boring. Last updated by Lippincott in the early 1990s, making the globe more refined and the typography more formal. So how can these two identities come together? Well, rather painfully.

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Opinion BY Armin

GLAAD Gets Louder

While still light years away from fair portrayal in the media as well as full social and cultural acceptance, the gay, lesbian and transgender community have had a strong ally the last 25 years that has positively broadened the views of the public in The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). Established in New York in 1985, GLAAD “amplifies the voice of the LGBT community by empowering real people to share their stories, holding the media accountable for the words and images they present, and helping grassroots organizations communicate effectively.” Working from that key word, amplifying, Lippincott worked pro-bono to create their new identity, which was introduced this past March 13 at the 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York.

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