Opinion BY Armin

Brandiose is Grandiose

Established in 2000 as Plan B Branding by life-long friends Jason Klein and Casey White, Brandiose, as the new company has been named, is a branding firm focused on designing official logos and uniforms for Minor League Baseball teams with awesome names like the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs and the Richmond Flying Squirrels. Having been called to the Majors, they also revitalized the Cincinnati Reds logos and uniforms. With the new name comes a new identity with lettering by Ken Barber.

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Opinion BY Armin

The Little Airship That Could

Established in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1983 and originally known as The Rainbow Society, the newly renamed The Dream Factory is “a charitable organization dedicated to fulfilling the once-in-a-lifetime dreams of Manitoba children suffering from life threatening illnesses.” Focusing its efforts on children from Manitoba, The Dream Factory has helped over 530 children in the past 19 years — Make-A-Wish Foundation, the biggest organization in this category, has helped 212,000 kids since 1980, just as a point of reference. This past November, The Rainbow Society changed its name to The Dream Factory and introduced a new identity designed by Winnipeg-based Cocoon Branding.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Cadena 100

Established in 1992, Cadena 100 is one of the most popular radio stations in Spain. Their new logo and identity have been designed by Madrid-based Coleman CBX. More applications below (or after the jump).

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Opinion BY Armin

Jenny from the Block

Established in 1983 by Jenny Craig (and husband Sidney Craig) in Melbourne, Australia, Jenny Craig is a weight loss and nutrition company that offers at-home diet programs as well as “In-centre” at over 650 locations worldwide. Last year, Consumer Reports named it the number one diet. This past November, Jenny Craig lost some of its own weight, shedding the “Craig” to just be known as Jenny, along with a new logo and brand ambassador.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Rio 2016 Paralympic Games

The emblem for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio was unveiled this Saturday. It was designed by Tátil, the same firm that designed the Olympics logo. Press release here. Detail of the logo and video presentation below (or after the jump).

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Opinion BY Armin

Ready. Aim. Chat!

Released in 1997, AIM, short for AOL Instant Messenger, was the original IM-ing choice for the first mass generation of internet users, making it the one socially acceptable product from AOL one could use without losing his or her cred. Even with the onslaught of instant message features in Gmail and Facebook and major applications like Skype and Apple’s own Chat, AIM has somehow managed to keep its spot — or at least a spot — in the market. Lacking any serious updates in recent years, AOL is completely rebooting AIM, launching a new version this week with mobile apps for the iPhone and Android, desktop clients for Mac and PC, and a site for chatting directly on your browser. With this a new logo has also been introduced.

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Opinion BY Armin

Sign Here

Only one of three mobile telecommunication service providers in Argentina, Personal, whose parent company is giant Telecom Argentina, has 18 million customers. (Sorry, don’t have much else to say about it). Earlier this month, Personal introduced a new identity created by London-based This is Real Art and a new ad campaign by TBWA\Buenos Aires.

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A B-Side BY Armin

SusieCakes

SusieCakes is “an all-American bakery offering classic desserts such as cakes, cookies, cupcakes, pies, and puddings” with six locations across California where you can sit down, take out, or custom order. The new identity, packaging and website have been designed by Brooklyn-based Red Antler. The custom wordmark was created by “literally exploring letter forms drawn with buttercream frosting.” Plenty of applications here.

A B-Side BY Armin

Del Taco

First opened in 1964, Del Taco is a fast food chain of Mexican-ish offerings, with 525 restaurants in 17 states. With the launch of a few prototype stores, a new logo is being introduced. Both designed by Tesser. Press release here.

Thanks to Abe Vizcarra for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Beam me up, Jim

In 1795, Jacob Beam sold his first barrel of whiskey in Kentucky. 216 years later, Beam Inc. is the fourth largest spirits company in the world producing and distributing some of the most well known spirit brands like the eponymous Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, Sauza Tequila, Courvoisier, Knob Creek, and Effen Vodka, among a portfolio of 65 brands. Previously part of major holding company Fortune Brands, Beam is now an independent company that began trading on the NYSE earlier this month. Their new logo was introduced in August.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Santo Domingo

Cluster Turístico de Santo Domingo, the tourism office of the capital of the Dominican Republic, has just released a new destination logo for the city. More story here.

Thanks to Mirek Janczur for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

NBC Sports

NBC Sports, a major “segment” of the programming at NBC, is now also its own channel as NBCUniversal has announced the transformation of the old Versus channel into the NBC Sports Network, which will share the look with the segment on NBC. More details here.

Thanks to Reilly Brennan for first tip.

The B-Side BY cole

Mediclinic

Established in 1983, Mediclinic is the largest private healthcare provider in South Africa. They have recently undergone an identity update which can be read about here.

Thanks to Shanaé Lackay for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Winnipeg Hockey gets Bellicose

Set to begin play in the 2011/12 season of the NHL, the Winnipeg Jets are the result of the purchase of the Atlanta Thrashers (who joined the league as an expansion team in the 1999/2000 season) by True North Sports & Entertainment with the full intent of bringing the team to Canada, where they own the MTS Centre in downtown Winnipeg. If, to some, the Winnipeg Jets name sounds familiar it’s because it used to exist first as a World Hockey Association team from 1972 to 1979 and then as an NHL franchise from 1979 to 1996. Last week, the Jets unveiled their new identity designed by Reebok, that celebrates the city’s ties to the Canadian Air Force.

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Opinion BY Armin

A to S is the New A to Z

Although strands of the company go back to 1996, Atos was first formed in 2000, the same year it became Atos Origin. This month, with the acquisition of Siemens IT Solutions and Services GmbH, the company is back to being known as Atos. With 78,500 employees in 42 countries Atos is an information technology services company — they also happen to be the worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic Games, so they must know what they are doing. With the new name comes a new identity. According to a brand manual that got floated past me, the concept is credited to Atos Talents & Communications (fancy way of saying “in-house”) and Publicis’ Royalties. Atos has also introduced a couple of tag lines and mottos: “Your business technologists” as the descriptor, “Powering progress” as the signature, and “The power of to” also pops up here and there on their website.

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Opinion BY Armin

Attack of the Red Gradients

Established in 1976, EDP (Energias de Portugal) is not just the largest electricity and energy company in Portugal but also a major player globally with presence in Spain, Brazil, and the U.S. with more than 12,000 employees worldwide. It’s also the third largest wind operator in the world. Last week EDP unveiled a new identity designed by Sagmeister Inc.

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Guest Opinion by Roy Levitt posted BY Brand New

Time to Gogo?

In 2008 Gogo — an inflight Wi-Fi hotspot service, offered by Aircell — revolutionized commercial airline communications for passengers. Available above 10,000 ft. over U.S. air space Gogo provides access to the Web, e-mail, instant messaging, and corporate VPNs. Gogo is available on all AirTran Airways and Virgin America flights, and select Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta, Frontier, United, and US Airways flights with various pricing options.

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Opinion BY Armin

Milliken Goes Soft

With roots as far back as 1865, Milliken is a South Carolina-based “innovation company that has been exploring, discovering, and creating ways to enhance people’s lives”. What that means is that they develop new products that are hard to categorize in one fell swoop: they manufacture floor coverings, carpet, specialty fabrics, and even chemicals that go into things like crayons. Milliken holds an astounding 2,200 patents and employes 7,000 people — more than a 100 PhD’s among them — and maintains 39 manufacturing facilities across the world. In April Milliken introduced a new identity designed by San Francisco-based SALT Branding that is based on the signature of its late President Roger Milliken, who had taken over the company in 1947 when his father and company founder Seth Milliken passed away.

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A B-Side BY Armin

SnackWell’s

SnackWell’s, a brand of sweet not-so-crappy-for-you snacks produced by Nabisco, has just updated its logo and packaging. New tagline is “Be Bad. Snack Well.” Press release here. More packaging images and logo at SnackWell’s site.

Thanks to Cary Whitt for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Little Chef, Big Dreams

First opened in 1958, Little Chef is a chain of restaurants found along the highways and “A roads” in the UK. Currently operating 162 locations, Little Chef boasts of serving 10 million cups of tea, 12 million rashers of bacon, 10 million eggs, and 13 million sausages each year. At Little Chef you can sit down and order food, or take food to go, or just buy stuff. Sounds like a combination of Canada’s Tim Hortons and the US’s IHOP and 7-Eleven. Little Chef has just undergone a big revitalization of its identity, designed by London-based venturethree, and its restaurant design by Ab Rogers Design.

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