Blog post 12

Nostalgic style logos seem to have become the norm within our current trends.  Earlier today, I noticed some jeans for sale at an apartment store that had been "aged".  They had also been given a period correct logo to go with the aging process.  Despite the worn look, these were definatly not inexpensive items of clothing.   People are really paying now a days for the "worn in" look.  The logic behind this is that people feel a sense of pride and accomplishment  when they completely exhaust an item of it's usefulness.  By purchasing something that already looks worn out, they get to have that type of satisfaction right away.  It is also easier for the customer to get an emotional attachment to an aged item.  It's uniqueness and custom look sets the item apart for the customer and gives them a sense of individuality.  This is more how the trend starts.  People are wearing the clothing whether they like it or not because it's trendy.  This is a perfect opportunity for business owners to capitalize on.  Vintage themed merchandise is more form than function.  At times it can be easier to produce, cheaper and sold for more money because of the high demand.  My point however doesn't lie in the product, but in the logo.  Coke Cola has had the same logo for almost it's entirety of existence.  Knowing this I think it's safe to say that coke has a "vintage" logo.  The coke you drink however is new.  It is not an old product.  The coke formula had been tweaked slightly over the years and many ingredients have been substituted for more modern ones.  So if the formula is modern, and the logo is nostalgic, then from cokes example we can deduce that the customer likes the combination.  The old logo gives a perception that the customer is receiving a time tested and classic product, but the modern formula makes sure that the customer has an up to date product.  This model can be applied to a number of different industries. Just like the clothing example I sited at the beginning.  It's imperative for business owners that they are always looking at these trends and keeping up with the times. And as of right now, people love the classic look.  

My last post concerned the versatility of a logo and its ability to apply to different forms of marketing.  However a logo can't be too flexible. For it might not represent it's product well enough to create a recognizable image.  Unilever is a huge company making many different types of toiletry products, but their company is known more so by its underlings like Dove and Axe.  These smaller brand names make up different variations of the same thing.  The shampoo formula in a Dove product might be nearly identical to the formula in the Axe product.  However the actual company. Unilever, could charge more or less for each version, and have completely different target markets.  This brings to my point. Sometimes it's better to have a parent company controlling your brand and create a whole other name to go for another market. In the case of "Salt Life", It might have been better to create whole new line dubbed "Snow Life", and trademark both under a semi unknown new name.  This way the same company can hit two markets with less risk of disgracing the the whole company's name, if one of the brands fails the original can stay intact.  This is a much better business model than keeping the whole of all products under one brand, and trying to create a versatile logo that applies to all products.  

Today my blog post will touch on the versatility of a company's logo.  There have been many successful brand logos through out history.  However all but a few can fall under the category of versital.  By versital, I mean a logos abilities to be placed in positions the product it represents would never be.  These days, clothing is an incredible resource of marketing for a company to utilize.  For clothing company's it's amazing, for every product you sell, you also create a walking advertisment.  Take "Salt Life", this company has been wildly successful in selling the salt life brand to beach goers every summer.  This is unfortunately a very seasonal venture for the company in some areas.  To combat this, salt life has been releasing winter clothing for people to use in a more seasonal manner, even introducing some camouflage wear targeting hunters.  This branch of the salt life line has been profitable but not at the level of their beach wear.  The logo "salt life" is just not versital enough to be used in another setting and in reality the logo doesn't even make sense.  I cannot blame the company for trying, but why not just use the marketing power of the brand thar already exists to push a new brand owned by the same company that's just developed for the rest of the seasons.  When designing a company logo, I feel this problem can be completely diverted by making the logo distinctive and representative of the product, but loose and versatile enough to market the product in other applications.  Let's take three successful logo examples and compare.  We'll start with facebook.  Probably as simple of a logo as any, it doesn't look quite right anywhere but the Facebook website.  Would anyone want to wear a tee shirt with the facebook logo on it? How about a hat.....on second thought it probably wouldn't fit, or look appealing to any Facebook user.  This doesn't mean Facebook has a bad logo, it just means that Facebook is limited in its ability to market it's name in comparison to other companys.  For instance, Coke Cola. Coke is the 4th most valuable brand in the world and has a slightly more versatile logo than facebook.  Though still not incredibly appealing, Coke is to this day placed on tee shirts and hats, and in the past it was used on coolers and lunchboxes because the logo was designed in a way that made it appealing in other areas besides coke bottles.  This type of marketing has led to Coke being one of the most widely consumed drinks in the world.  Success like Cokes can only be compared to Forbes number one most valuable brand, Apple.  Apple has a logo that is recognizable almost anywhere.  Its a simple chrome apple with a single bite taken out of it. Every apple device ships with a sticker of this apple for the consumer to place wherever they wish.  Lots of people place it on their car, bycycle or backpack, giving apple marketing from the people using its product just like Salt Life.  Now, not many people will be willing to walk around with a hat or tee shirt that has a big chrome apple on it.  However the company's slogan," think differently" is just as easily placed on a tee shirt as coke cola is. The apple brand is flexible enough to be put on something other than a computer, think about other computer companies.  Would you wear a shirt with windows 10 written on it?  Probably not.  How about a hat that said IBM?  Apple and Coke do something that is very important for a company to do in regards to marketing.  They create an attitude and environment for their products that causes their customers to be drawn in with an undying sence of brand loyalty.

Blog post 8

My first blog post spoke of Apple's marketing campaign that uses product disposability in order to generate sales.  This business model spews over into many other markets.  One market being automotive manufacturing.  Volkswagen for example, has a car with a turbocharger and a supercharger installed on the same engine.  Volkswagen touts this as a selling point. An extremely efficient and modern engine that's ahead of its class.  This might be ok if the customer has deep pockets.  However the average person buying a new car probably wants it to be very reliable and cheap to fix when it breaks down.  An engine with two forced induction methods is an extremely delicate setup.  The car might get 40mpg right off the lot, but after hard use, its complicated parts can come out of adjustment and destroy the engines efficiency, requiring precise mechanical adjustment. Often only available at a dealer.  It's no coincidence that the same type of people willing to shell out big bucks at the Apple Store every year will do the same when their Volkswagen hits above 50,000 miles on the odometer.  It's a marketing strategy both companies and many more share.  Trick your customer into buying a complicated and expensive product with the false insight that the product is better because of its complexity.  The product shows its age quicker and the customer buys a new one quicker.  An added bonus is the companies ability to charge a high amount to service the product with the products complexity preventing third party servicing.  With Apple, your buying the logo, with Volkswagen, it's the same story.