It may or may not come as a surprise, but I’m a die hard Metallica fan. Well, was. At the beginning of my teenage years with the release of the Black Album in 1991 I was immediately hooked and bought every album that had come before it — Kill ‘em all became a thrashy favorite. When they played in Mexico in 1993, me and my friends had seats in the first ten rows and through some Heavy Metal miracle I was handed a pass to be transferred to the “snakepit,” a hole in the middle of the stage where even crazier head-banging occurred — the amazing Live Shit: Binge & Purge set came from the five shows they played there. Then it took five years for the next release, Load, which didn’t quite catch my attention and its sequel ReLoad felt even more out of touch from Metallica’s true sound — it didn’t help that, by now, the cast had all gotten haircuts that made them look like they should be playing for Jethro Tull. After ReLoad I lost track, in part because Metallica did not seem to fit in my post-‘99 life (work, girlfriend, no more mullet) but to this day, when I need to haul-ass on a production task I will crank the vintage Metallica, and it does still sound good. Clearly, all this has nothing to do with the logo — well, I did draw it extensively on my school notebooks and ripped jeans — but it felt rather therapeutic to get it out there.
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Quick Note: The opening image above is not exactly a before/after of logos, more of a visual language before/after.
I have always had a soft spot for orange sodas, there is something about the combination of magic syrup, orange and bubbles that is just fun. In Mexico the undisputed taste champion (at least in my personal tests) was Orange Crush and I guess the funky glass bottle it came in had something to do with the experience. A close second was Fanta. So, yes, that was an odd segue to bring us to the subject at hand, but I really wanted to link to the Orange Crush bottle. With more than 70 flavors (including mind-benders like Banana Fermented Milk, Mellon Vanilla and Mint Raspberry) in 180 markets around the world, Fanta, from the Coca-Cola family of products, will be implementing a new identity designed by San Francisco-based Office.
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Guest Editorial by Guilherme Machiavelli
In Brazil, one of the biggest competitors of coke (be it Coca-Cola or Pepsi) in the soda market is a soft drink called Guaraná Antártica, made from the local fruit, guaraná. Ten years ago, Coca-Cola, in an attempt to tackle its rival, launched Guaraná Kuat. Kuat has been marketed in various forms, beginning with the (slightly odd) strategy of declaring itself as having the same taste as Guaraná Antártica. The brand later decided to target a teenage audience, with campaigns following the “Open up your mind‚” motto.
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….bzzz….snap….crackle…awheeeeeeyoooooo…distortion….static…fade in…. Excuse me while I break into your regularly scheduled programming of corporate identity changes to focus on another aspect of Brand™: packaging. I’ve worked in both the corporate identity and packaging fields for over 10 years now. If I could sum up my general feeling on mass-market packaging (in the United States), I’d say it sucks. At some point, there are only so many variations one can do on ribbons, splashes, swooshes, dimensional type and fake water droplets. When small percentage points of market share can mean hundreds of millions of dollars, you can kind of understand. Kind of. So it thrills me to no end when someone of stature refuses to do it anymore.
I present the New Old Coke.
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