Graphic Journey Blog

Branding brands: Part 3

In the 1980's, a darker shadow fell over the use of branding (more visual wallpaper) during the Thatcher era, when her Conservative Party started to sell off the country’s many national industries, among them British Petroleum, British Aerospace, Cable & Wireless, Britoil, Associated British Ports Jaguar, British Telecommunications, British Shipbuilders, British Gas, British Airways, Rolls-Royce, BAA, British Steel, water, electricity and many more.

British Gas share sales, 'Tell Sid', TV commercial 1986.

The government used advertising and design on an industrial scale to convince the public that they would make money by purchasing shares in these, soon to be former, publicly owned businesses. But, in the event, the controlling interest went to the big institutes and hedge funds, and today most of those sell-offs are now owned by foreign organisations. The result has been endless price hikes, particularly in the utilities, along with lamentable customer service over the years. These free-market companies pay astronomical sums to their CEOs and substantial dividends to keep shareholders happy, and the customer pays the price. The identities and advertising created for these famous British companies did their job, and the public flocked to buy their little clutches of shares.

Very few of the real culprits serve time for their crimes.

Following the economic crash in 2008 and the subsequent revelation that global banks were systematically and knowingly involved in criminal activity, they became the most loathed industry in the minds of the public. Ever since that catastrophic crash, more revelations of wrongdoing have continued to be uncovered. The banks, in turn, have tried to counter these negative stories buy producing multi-million-pound advertising campaigns, extolling their newfound ‘care’ for their customers and communities, in the hope that they will be seen as warm and fluffy organisations.

One of many posters extolling the new found virtues of the caring, sharing Lloyds Bank.

Barclays sentimental, heart string pulling TV commercial to make you feel all warm and cuddly about the bank.

Nat West's similar 'feel good' approach to their TV commercials.

Sadly, a large part of the public seems to have very short-term memories of the foreclosing on mortgages and loans. And there was the aggressive interference with business clients in financial trouble. The banks would send in their business support teams and charge excessive management fees, and many of those companies folded because of it. Most of the high street banks have 'refreshed' their visual identities in the hope that we will forget all that and allow the sentimental stories in their commercials of good deeds and care for their customers and communities to seduce us into thinking that they really love us. I personally find it sickening and am amazed that the agencies involved in peddling this PR balm can sleep at night.

The Co-operative and idea based of noble values.

In 1844 the Co-operative was formed by the Rochdale pioneers. They believed in a different way of doing business. An inspiring socialist idea in business that would be owned by its members and work for the common good. They had a series of values. Honesty, Openness, Social responsibility, Caring for others, and endorsed by its members. They were placed at the heart of their brand. Over the years they expanded into many areas. This is true story telling based on a set of noble beliefs that would keep the brand alive for generations. But a couple of years back their popular and much trusted ‘ethical’ Co-op Bank came crashing down when its chairman, Reverend Paul Flowers, lost grip of what he was doing at the bank in favour of corporate perks, along with sex and crystal meth. It was a shock for customers and the long-held perceived view of a trust was devastated.

The Co-operative now back to the simple 1960's short hand Co-op updated by design consultancies North as part of companies rebuilding programme.

The whole group has suffered and they are on a long hard road trying to regain that customer trust and loyalty. Brans are very fragile things.

An Apple cathedral of worship.

A shining example of a 'global brand' has to be Apple under Steve Jobs, with his obsessive oversight and guidance in every aspect: design quality, technology, commercials, copywriting, staff training, stores and rigorously managed interactions with customers.

Disciples extolling the virtues of Apple.

Their brand values seemed untouchable, having managed to create a quasi-religion worshipped in cathedral-like stores by their eager Apple disciples. But since the death of Jobs, rather more-negative stories have been surfacing about tax avoidance, the disregard of widespread abuse of the workers that build its products. The increasing short shelf life of  iPad and iPhone products, the most expensive in the mass-market technology area, set to self-destruct, leaving many feeling ripped off, leaving a sour taste for Apple customers. The worship is beginning to tarnish.

Part 4 next week looks at brands like the Co-operative based on a central idea with values to match.

Branding Brands: Part 2

In the 1960s, American advertising agencies really started to dig below the surface in order to achieve a deeper understanding of their clients via the use of thorough research. In particular, the New York advertising agency Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) created groundbreaking advertising that embedded an emotional connection between products, services and the customer. The greatest and most enduring of these was for Volkswagen, where they managed to engender a love of an unattractive little car in the public’s hearts – in a country that favoured big, glitzy, gas-guzzling monsters. That little car became known as the VW Beetle.

In brilliant storytelling advertisements, posters and TV commercials, they emphasised the car’s modest price, reliability and economy, all beautifully crafted by DDB’s supreme Art Director Helmut Krone, who created a unique visual style, with a very witty, self-deprecating, conversational style of copy by Julian Koenig.

The VW Beetle was a huge success. And DDB’s work became the foundation of a global brand based on German efficiency, safety, build, trust and reliability.

When people thought of VW, all of these attributes instantly registered in their hearts and minds. It also gave a sense of pride to the German workforce. These preciously achieved values survived for five decades, until a few years ago, when the exhaust emissions scandal broke. That really knocked VW’s trust with employees and customers alike. But the interesting thing about much-loved and trusted brands is that the public will forgive one mistake. I know: I have and continue to buy their products. Simply, it is people who make brands brands.

You can see more about DDB’s VW ads and commercials here: 

The button badge with the Avis mantra.

Another masterstroke from DDB was for Avis car rentals. They were seen as No. 2 in the US, lagging behind the giant Hertz. DDB did what became known as ‘repositioning the opposition’ and campaigned Avis as the ‘underdog’ – Americans like a hardworking underdog.

The simple, direct press ads that caught the imagination of the public. 

Speaking directly to potential customers using full-page press ads, the headline announced “When you’re only No. 2, you try harder. Or else.” This brilliantly direct storytelling style written by DDB’s Paula Green was quickly noticed by the wider world of corporate identity – every company wanted to express its ‘personality’ through this more engaging and emotive form of communicating.

DDB was a major inspiration for the young copywriting Turks in UK advertising. Among them, Charles Saatchi, Alan Parker, Malcolm Gluck, Gray Jolliffe, Dan Levin and David Abbott.

Above are 3 examples of the work of the late British copywriter, David Abbott. He originally worked at DDB in New York in the 1960's. He brought back to the UK his very own take on wit, intelligence and brilliance in advertising writing.

Pretty soon, they were matching the quality of DDB’s work in the hubbub that became known as ‘swinging London’ in the mid 1960s. And in the design world, too, things were changing.

The consultancy Wolff Olins was going beyond the purely visual. Creative Director Michael Wolff was keen to get to the heart of the matter in every aspect of an organisation’s behaviour, from the language it used, its telephone manner and the greeting of clients and customers to staff welfare. In addition, he was interested in consistency in all aspects of design presentation, even down to the quality of the towels in organisations’ lavatories.

Above, a dramatic look for a local council back in the 1960's. But for Camden Council Wolff went beyond the superficial, he wanted the language they used to be decluttered and introduced simple plain English on all the council's forms.

Wolff would spend a lot of time with CEOs drilling down to get at the very essence of an organisation’s brand values, proposition and behaviour in order to communicate them clearly to customers – what David Ogilvy described as “the intangible sum of a product’s attributes.”

The Bovis hummingbird, signifying, speed, skill, beauty and brilliance. If it were not for the single-mindedness and bravery of the Bovis CEO it would not have happened. The site workers wanted the bird on their helmets and T-shirts because they and their families loved it and it made them feel good. 

With this more rigorous approach, the term ‘brand’ began to be replaced by ‘corporate identity’, the latter considered to be mostly concerned with the visual clothing, rather than what goes on underneath. But, somehow, many designers missed the point and muddled brand with logo – even decades on, this has still not been shaken off.

 

Part 3 Next week: How government manipulated branding to sell off Britain's national industries.

More about David Abbott here.

Listen to an interview with Michael Wolff on branding here.

Branding brands: Part 1

Deliveroo's new logo

Over the past few months, I have become increasingly irritated by regular design press stories about so-called ‘rebrands’. On reading the articles, it is clear that most of these ‘rebrands’ are little more than a logo change, be it a complete reworking, like Deliveroo, or just a ‘spot the difference’ tweak, like Google. I am always amazed that design journalists never seem to challenge what they are fed from the various design agencies.

And Google's spot the difference logo.

Establishing a brand is not just about the logo or the styling of the print material and the website: it is a far deeper, lengthier and more complex affair. It is about an organisation’s behaviour and how that is reflected in the service, products, words and imagery. Think of it as a person: their look, sound, personality, truthfulness, trustworthiness and behaviour. In other words, it is the sum of all the parts. The visual and verbal expressions of this, the logo and copy, are just small elements of the whole. And the logo is no more than a visual trigger.

Let’s set out what a ‘brand’ is supposed to do. For centuries, a simple arrangement of letters/shapes assembled on a rod made of cast iron was plunged into a glowing fire and used to burn into the flesh of cattle. It was a simple and permanent way to identify the owner. That’s where the term ‘branding’ originated.

Where it all started.

Later, these branding marks metamorphosed into a variety of names using new printing methods, such as colophon, symbol, emblem, insignia, monogram, trademark, motif and hallmark. All are used to signify organisations, services and products.

The original 1896 logo (left) for what was later to become IBM. The interlocking initials are identical to cattle branding iron arrangements.

In the 1900's bill posting became one of the most immediate ways to advertise. 

Later came the 'impervious to all weathers', the vitreous enamelled sign. 

The selling of producst became more sophisticated when packaging was introduced.

During the Industrial Revolution, these ‘visual prompts’ were employed extensively to advertise products and were often no more than letterpress printed posters pasted on to walls or sturdy weatherproof, outdoor, vitreous enamelled signs – many from the Victorian period still survive to this day. Later, as retail developed, the packaging of products started to appear for the convenience of customers, like, Kellogg’s corn flakes, Quaker porridge oats, Pears soap, etc. But the idea of a more coordinated company look came much later.

 London Underground, one of the most memorable logos, first introduced in 1907 (above) and has been subtlety and systematically developed over many years.

 

The most coordinated move came in the 1920s, under the watchful eye of Chief Executive Frank Pick, developed over a period of time established a far more sophisticated system, introducing a comprehensive design programme that embraced every aspect of its enterprise, from architecture, signage, a unique typeface and textiles to uniforms, rolling stock, advertising and posters.

Textiles designed by Enid Marx RDI in 1938.

Southgate underground station designed by Charles Holden in 1933.

Above and below the typeface designed by Edward Johnstone in 1916.

Harry Beck's 1933 geographical underground map, reinterpreted to give visual clarity.

Not forgetting the brilliant underground map created by Harry Beck. London Transport was an early example of a truly coordinated design concept, and as it rolled out the ‘essence’ of what London Transport was about, formulating this in the minds of passengers, it signalled the comfort, speed, safety and efficiency of a modern transport system. One that the public could depend on.

This little penguin, developed over the years, found favour with the reading public for many decades. The original design was by Edward Young in 1935. 

In 1935 Sir Allen Lane cofounded Penguin Books and enabled the public to buy high-quality paperback fiction and non-fiction for sixpence. It was quickly established as the publisher you could trust for quality in literature. It remained that way until Lane died in 1970. The day after his death Penguin was floated on the stock market, and in the following years much of Lane's vision was lost in the corporate boardroom. Under new management large swaths of the distinguished list was axed and books that Lane would not have touched with a bargepole were included in Penguin's list. It was a sad loss of the trust that Lane had built with the public over many decades.

The cover styling was an important part of Penguin's success along with the sixpenny cover price.

One of IBM's buildings, with its sartorially coordinated staff in 1968

In the 1950/60s, America started to developed what became known as ‘corporate identity’ with the same rigour as London Transport. More design companies started to embrace corporate identity in their mixes.

Paul Rand's detailed corporate identity for IBM developed from the.

IBM's CEO, Thomas J. Watson, Jr. had an epiphany. “Good design is good business,” he declared. It became the company’s mantra and mandate and signaled a profound design-conscious evolution in the company’s operations. 

IBM, featuring the work of designer Paul Rand, is a classic example. Others, like Saul Bass, Lou Dorfsman and Ivan Chermayeff, were all involved in rolling out comprehensive corporate identities. Many of these were simply coordinated public-facing style exercises.

Above the logo for the Bell Telephone Company by Saul Bass. And below his Warner logo.

The classic logo for CBS designed by Bill Golden in 1951.

It was later developed into and outstanding comprehensive corporate identity by Lou Dorfsman during the 1960's

Another competing broadcaster, NBC also produced a coordinated look crated by John J. Graham in 1959. 

Ivan Chermayeff's work for Chase Manhatten Bank, Mobil Oil and Public Broadcasting Services.

Two examples of Josef Muller-Brockmann's identity work for arts organisations from the late 1950's to the late 1960's. It typifies the structured grid system with its strict typographical rules and minimal deviation in style.

The Swiss, with their logical systematic grid system, favoured by the likes of Josef Muller-Brockmann, became the modernised style to follow but did tend to create enormous similarity, rather than differentiate organisations.

The long lived logo for British Rail, introduce in 1964 designed by Design Research Unit, Britain's first cross disciplinary consultancy founded in 1943 by Misha Black, Milner Gray, and Herbert Read 

The identity for London Electricity Board, designed by FHK Henrion 1970. And below his logo for Tate & Lyle 1965.

Here in the UK, the Design Research Unit and FHK Henrion were two of the most important consultancies involved in creating corporate identities for major British companies. 

A far more penetrating look at companies was to come from the world of advertising. They would engender an emotional connection with the public. Branding brands: Part 2 next week.

 

Things I like...

Rudolph de Harak, book cover 1960.