A B-Side BY Armin

ams

About: (Formerly austriamicrosystems and acquired TAOS Inc. in 2011) “ams develops and manufactures high performance analog semiconductors that solve its customers’ most challenging problems with innovative solutions. ams’ products are aimed at applications which require extreme precision, accuracy, dynamic range, sensitivity, and ultra-low power consumption. ams’ product range includes sensors, sensor interfaces, power management ICs and wireless ICs for customers in the consumer, industrial, medical, mobile communications and automotive markets. With headquarters in Austria, ams employs over 1,200 people globally and serves more than 6,500 customers worldwide.”

Design by: N/A.

Ed.’s Notes: Overly explanatory (and unconvincingly so) video of the new logo below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: Press release.

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Opinion BY Armin

Comcast Takes NBC Peacock Hostage

Established in 1963, Comcast is a global media and technology company and it operates two main businesses. The first, and what most people associate the company with, Comcast Cable — although it’s not called Comcast Cable, but Xfinity — which is the the largest video, high-speed Internet and phone provider for residential and business use in the U.S. with a combined 50.8 million customers. Under the Comcast name there is also venture capital firm Comcast Ventures and sports and entertainment company Comcast-Spectacor. The other primary business is NBCUniversal, only one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies that manages the namesake television network and movie production company, as well as specialty channels like USA Network, Syfy, E!, CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo, and more. In other words, Comcast is huge and influential. Yesterday, without any fanfare or release, Comcast flipped the switch on a fancy new website that features a new corporate logo.

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A B-side BY Armin

Ecova

The result of the recent merger between Advantage IQ and Ecos, Ecova is a “total energy and sustainability management company”. The new identity was designed by Sandstrom Partners.

A B-side BY Armin

BMO Harris Bank

Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, BMO Harris Bank, is a result of a series of bank mergers after Bank of Montreal Financial group (Harris) acquired Marshall && Ilsley Corporation (M&&I) in July 2011. At that time, M&I Marshall && Ilsley Bank, M&&I Bank National Association (N.A.), and The Harris Bank N.A. merged into Harris N.A. Harris N.A. then changed it’s name to BMO Harris Bank N.A. Conversion of bank branches to the new look began in December 2011 and will continue until late 2012.

Thanks to Stefan Bean for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

Bupa

Bupa is an international health care company established in the UK in 1947. After expanding into Australia with the acquisition of health insurance companies MBF, Mutual Community, and HBA, Bupa rebranded them all with the global Bupa mark.

Thanks to Tricia Ho for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

Agero

Established in 1972 and now the merger of Cross Country Automotive Services and ATX Group, Agero (pronounced “Ajeero”) is a provider of roadside assistance, claims management and connected vehicle services for the automotive, insurance and aftermarket industries. Press release here.

Thanks to Heather Memmel for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

A1, Flexible Enough?

Established in 2010 from the merger of two popular telecommunication providers, A1 and Telekom Austria, A1 Telekom Austria is now the leading service provider in Austria with more than 5 million mobile and 2 million fixed-line subscribers and 9,700 employees. At the end of April they announced that the two consumer brands would merge into a single one under the A1 name and a new identity created by Saffron. A micro site introducing the new identity (with a brief movie) can be found here and a press release (PDF and in German) here.

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Opinion BY Armin

Follow-up: United Airlines

Allow to me quote myself from something I said a little over three months ago: “In all likelihood we will see a new logo in the next year or two.” Boy was I wrong as a drunk at the race track. It wasn’t two years. Or a year. Barely a financial quarter has passed before United Airlines — the resulting moniker of the merger between it and Continental — changed its logo. And if you thought it couldn’t get worse, bet again.

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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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