Remember your old branding
2009 seems to have been the year of anniversaries for a few famous brands, most notably Persil and the well-known British chain Marks and Spencers, and their main solution to celebrate? Dig out all the old branding and advertising from over the years. Retro has always been in and out of fashion, but there seems to have been a surge in the investment put into it in recent months. It's easy to see why if you look at the current economy too. In a time of recession, everyone is curtailing spending, and unsure of who's going to be the next company to fall. Showing yourself as a strong company that has been around for a very long time is therefore highly desireable, creating confidence. It also proves that the right brand or logo can be remembered for a very long time. In an age where corporate guidelines are pretty strict on showing something out of the current brand, these 'old' logos wouldn't be brought out again unless they were confident the public could look at them and say 'Heh, I remember that'.
There's even occasions of big brands without an anniversary playing on their heritage in order to emphasise how long they've been around. Recently spotted on television was an ad for Milky Way. If anyone found it looking familiar, it's because this is actually a slightly tweaked version of an advert which was played out heavily on both television and cinema some 20 years ago, albeit now subtley updated to take account of much more paranoid 21st century attitudes on suggesting eating chocolate is good for you or 'smart'. As there's no clear occasion being celebrated with this reappearance, it looks most likely the reintroduction is solely for emphasising longevity...
It almost makes you wonder how many big brands of the internet age like Google, Yahoo and MSN will be fairing in 20 to 30 years time...
Posted By: Terence
03 July 2009