Who remembers the £11m Abbey rebrand in 2003 shortly before the Santander takeover? Abbey adopted a soft, all lowercase, pastel coloured brand identity with the new tagline, ‘turning banking on its head’. Rebranding certainly isn’t new to Abbey customers.

It is, after all, five years since Abbey was taken over by Santander and in that time we have seen the incorporation of the Santander ‘flame’ logo, typeface and colour into the Abbey branding. What’s left to change, other than the brand name? As for the other two brands, their takeovers are still fresh and for that reason the rebrands could be seen as more risky.

However, bank customers are extremely loyal and Santander’s decison to roll out the rebrands by the end of 2010 suggests steady change rather than a swift one. Lets not forget that it will be an enormous rebranding exercise, and customers can probably expect some technical glitches along the way. Perhaps most interesting will be the advertising campaigns, direct mail and incentives that will follow, all in the name of turning one, or in this case three recognised brands into one ’super’ brand.

Dozens of top designers reveal the heartbreaking, and sometimes hilarious, mistakes they have made and talk about how they were able to grow from their experiences. Self-delusion, overcommitment, procrastination…they’re all here. Poor communication, missed deadlines, enraged clients…yes, they’re here too. Read this book and be inspired to find the silver lining in even the cloudiest situation.

That said, I’m a big fan of simple, clever logos that can work in any environment. If your brand can be applied to etched glass or even sewn into a beanie hat without losing legibility or impact, then I think you have a logo that will be prepared for any situation your business requires of it. It’s not just about have a logo that is black or white, it’s about having a logo that lends itself to any environment.

A new report commissioned by branding consultancy the Principle Group, surveyed 250 marketing directors of blue chip companies and UK business owners. The results were interesting to us to say the least. “85% of UK business leaders and managers believe that design will play an important role in generating a recovery for some, or all brands.” We at Masters Allen have had this view for a while, and have been advising our clients and local businesses over the last few months to take stock of their brand and design situation, encouraging them to be bold in these uncertain times by revitalizing and developing their business brands.

“56% of marketing directors of blue chip companies believe that a downturn could be the best time strategically to rebrand.” It makes perfect sense that when everyone in your industry is struggling, taking steps to evolve or reposition yourself as the market leader will give customers confidence in your business not to fail. Take Citroen as an example. The UK and European car market is in trouble, sales are drastically down and factories are in danger of closing. Citroen have chosen to take action and launch a new identity, ahead of a complete market repositioning that will see six new car models launched in the next three years. There is no better time for them to reinvent themselves, ready and well positioned for the market to get back on its feet in just a few years.

“63% of business leaders agree that the act of launching a new brand identity in uncertain times signals a bold embracing of change.” We couldn’t have put it better ourselves. Nobody wants to buy from a company on its knees. Show flexibility and strength, embracing change in the market. Consumers want a brand they can trust in these uncertain times.

From our experience, being seen to evolve your brand, reposition your core values, even expand or concentrate your market offering, is a sign of an active, focussed and thriving business. By showing this strength of brand character we as business owners can promote confidence internally in our staff and externally in our customer base. You never know, it may even give you the confidence to weather the storm!

Story source from Design Week, 12 February 2009

Full feature story below. Original source Design Week.

Hive of creativity

Designer-maker Andrew Tanner was born and bred in Leicester, but, like 1960s dramatist Joe Orton, he escaped. Tanner ended up in Brighton for 12 years, where he studied and set up his studio.

Unlike Orton, however, Tanner came back. ‘As my work was manufactured more and more in the UK, it was difficult to get to the factories in the Midlands from Brighton.’ At the moment, he’s spending three days a week in Stoke-on-Trent, where his new range for Poole Pottery is being made. What’s more, he claims that the creative industries community in Leicester beats that of Brighton.

He cites the agency Creative Leicestershire, which supports 1500 arts, media and design businesses of up to five people, many of which are based in the city’s West End.

For the past 18 months, Tanner, whose designs are stocked by Selfridges, has been working out of Leicester’s LCB Depot. This collection of 55 studios for creative businesses in an old bus depot was designed by Ash Sakula Architects and branded by Newenglish.

Carl Bebbington tells another side of the Leicester story. He moved from a job in London to Leicester 13 years ago, to set up Newenglish with his wife Wendy. Now six-strong, the consultancy can point out a host of local businesses that it has worked on, from Leicester Tourist Information, the National Space Centre and Leicester Libraries Services, to the Indian restaurant Mirch Masala and fair trade shop Just Fair Trade.

It was a conscious decision for Bebbington to focus increasingly on local clients. ‘It’s really nice to be able to walk around the city and see our work,’ he says. ‘We’re helping to change the cityscape.’

And this city of 300 000 people does seem to be changing. This autumn has seen the opening of Foreign Office Architects’ Highcross cinema and retail complex, Rafael Viñoly’s Curve theatre, and next year the Digital Media Centre by Marsh Grochowski will be ready.

These modern structures rub shoulders with some pleasing Victorian buildings. However, many period pieces have been left to deteriorate, or sit uncomfortably next to 1960s architectural mistakes.

The DMC will have 30 workspaces managed by the LCB Depot people. Peter Chandler, manager of LCB Depot, describes the difference the depot project and these other schemes in Leicester’s so-called Cultural Quarter are making. ‘They’re helping raise confidence in the city. Before the regeneration, this area was perceived to be unsafe, even during the day.’ Because, as Leicester Regeneration Company admits, the city has been suffering from a poor image. Indeed, some vestiges of its former self are still evident, even in the Cultural Quarter. Hence the adult entertainment venue, G Spot, located opposite the tasteful new Curve.

And despite these attempts at transformation, not everyone based there is keen to be associated with Leicester. Checkland Kindleysides, with a staff of 88, is one of the UK’s most high-profile retail design groups. But that’s despite, not because of, its location 20 minutes from the centre of Leicester.

‘We don’t see ourselves as Leicester people,’ says co-founder Jeff Kindleysides. ‘We don’t relate to any other businesses here, not because we’re arrogant, but we have done things our own way. Our work has always been national and global.’

Of course, there are the obvious advantages to being away from high-rent locations like London. While Newenglish occupies a capacious former Victorian Methodist Sunday school in town, Checkland Kindleysides resides in a 2400m2 studio, along with a 2300m2 workshop, where 15 people are employed to mock up furniture and shop environments.

Other developments in Leicester include the ethnic mix – it’s not just the architecture which is eclectic. According to the 2001 census, Leicester’s citizens includes 60 per cent white British, and more than 25 per cent of Indian origin. This second figure ranks Leicester as having the largest Indian population of any local authority area in England and Wales.

According to US economic regeneration expert Richard Florida, such an ethnic mix means Leicester has the potential to be one of the most creative places in the UK.

In his 2003 Demos survey, Boho Britain, the country’s 40 biggest cities were ranked using three creativity indicators: ethnic diversity, the proportion of gay residents, and the number of patent applications per head. While Manchester came out top, Leicester drew second with London.

So it’s not all shoe design and ‘contour fashion’ (meaning underwear design) in Leicester. As Clare Hudson, creative industries manager for Creative Leicestershire, points out: ‘De Montfort University is now strong in product design, and there are loads of printers here.’

And for Leicester-based designers, it’s worth bearing in mind that the city is a mere seventy minutes by train from London.

These brand identities are so distinctive, all you need is a glimpse to instantly place them. Some of which are more established in terms of age, but all share the same key component, strong visual cues.

To make our point we have created what we can only describe as a pop quiz! and such is our confidence in how recognizable these brands are, we have zoomed in and only given you a peak at the logos.

Click here to reveal the logos

So what is our point? It would be too easy just to show the above brands in full, for obvious reasons. All of the brands above have recognized the value of brand recognition. To mention a few others, McDonalds have their arches, Goodyear has its blimp and AOL has its distinctive pyramid etc. etc.

Recognizing these items involves visual cues stored in your memory. You’ve seen the item before and you’re able to identify it based on features including shape, location, colour, and size. Even the relationship the item has with another item provides your brain with recognition cues.

Looking at the logos above. Is it a design you instantly recognize? What aspect of the design helps you to recognize it? The colour? The shape? Perhaps you don’t recognize the design, but you do recognize the typeface style. A brand strategy which employs the maximum number of recognition cues has an advantage over a competing brand using fewer cues. The more cues the higher the probability that the brand will be recognized by more people.

All of the brands featured above employ lots of recognition cues, not to mention a large marketing budget!

If a brands’ conception has elements that hinder communication overtime without adding anything useful, these elements will eventually be removed for simplicity.

The link below has examples of some of the worlds most recognised brands, showing their design journey from birth. You may even be surprised by the changes over the years.

http://best-ad.blogspot.com/2008/08/evolution-of-logos.html