It takes years to build a brand, but seconds to destroy it. One small slip-up can destroy the longstanding identity and reputation of a brand in the market. There are countless examples of famous UK brands that failed to meet the expectations of their loyal customers and ended up in a mess. This happens when a corporation becomes overly complacent and overconfident in diversifying its business realms. Just because a corporation is capable of selling one product, it doesn’t mean it can sell anything by labeling any product with their brand logo design.

Sometimes, famous brands introduce new products without due consideration and end up becoming a forgotten brand. Brand extension is a good thing, if done appropriately and relevant to the company’s values and mission. For example, customers who relate a particular brand cola may not associate the same with an electrical appliance. Imagine… would you be buying Coca-Cola Vacuum Cleaners? I presume not so!

Today, I have collected 6 strange product failures introduced by famous brands. Most of these are seldom talked about, so I’am sure you are going to find these interesting to learn.

1. McDonald’s – Arch Deluxe

McDonald’s, known for its juicy and meaty burgers, surprisingly has a failed product under its belt. Introduced in 1996 with the name Arch Deluxe, this trademark hamburger was marketed by McDonald’s exclusively to adults. However, it was soon withdrawn from the market after badly failing in the eyes of the customers. Even a colossal marketing campaign could not save this ailing product that failed to define McDonald’s values of family, fun and entertainment.

2. Capital Radio Restaurants

Capital Radio claims to be the top ranked UK brand in the Radio industry. In hopes of diversifying its business, this London based Radio station acquired the My Kinda Town themed restaurant company. After the acquisition, they named it to a Capital Radio themed restaurant. As expected, they badly failed in this industry and the prime reason was the lack of association between their two businesses…radio station and food.

3. Kraft – Country Time Cider

The UK market is well aware of Kraft Foods that acquired Cadbury (formerly UK brand) last year. This US-based Food Giant launched Country Time Lemonade Drink in 1976 that became extremely popular. This was followed by another extension to the line, Country Time Pink Lemonade, which also became an instant hit. However, another subsequent addition was made namely Country Time Apple Cider. This turned out to be a big failure as customers were accustomed with the brand name Country Time with only ‘lemonade’.

4. PepsiCo – Crystal Pepsi

Pepsi, one of the leading brands of beverages in the world, also has its share of failures. In 1992, this soft-drink manufacturer launched a caffeine-free soft drink named Crystal Pepsi in the United States. Unfortunately, Pepsi had to pull out this product from the shelves because of dismal response from the customers. The main reason was that customers found it difficult to digest a cola as a clear liquid.

5. Kellogg’s – Breakfast Mates
	Sometimes, brands also fail to extend within their own domain. A case in point is Kellogg’s, famous for its breakfast products. Kellogg’s decided to launch Breakfast Mates in 1998 backed by a colossal advertising campaign. But a year later, in August 1999, Kellogg’s reluctantly withdrew its product from the market owing to unsatisfactory sales.

6. LifeSavers – Soda

LifeSavers is yet another example of how brands can fail to capitalize on their brand image. Known as one of the most liked brands of sweet in the US, LifeSavers decided to introduce its own brand of fizzy drink with the name LifeSavers Soda. Although the product passed the initial taste tests, it badly failed in the market. The reason was attributed to the consumers’ strong perception of LifeSavers as a candy brand. Customers said that Lifesavers Soda gave them an impression that they were consuming liquid candy.

For any brand, the country of origin plays a vital role in setting up its brand equity around the world. For example, in electronics, Japanese brands are the most preferred due to the advanced state of technology in the South-Asian Island. Likewise, French wines are considered the best because of their country of origin. Similarly UK brands are also backed by their rich cultural heritage of the country they belong to.

But what would happen if logos of famous UK brands are switched between their foreign rivals? How would that affect their status as a loyal and faithful UK brand? For instance, let’s say if British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) swapped its logo with its rival American news channel CNN, would it influence their ratings? How would their loyal customers in UK react?

In order to check the outcomes of logo swapping of UK brands, I have taken 10 famous UK brand and switched their logo design with US Brand Logos (however, few of the logos belong to rival counterparts from other countries). Let us see how the viewers react to this change:

1. American Airlines and British Airways Logo Swapping

2. Bank Of America and Barclays Logo Swapping

3. CNN and BBC Logo Swapping

4. BP and Shell Logo Swapping

5. Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin Logo Swapping

6. Marlboro and Dunhill Logo Swapping

7. Reebok and Nike Logo Swapping

8. Tesco and Walmart Logo Swapping

9. At&t and Vodafone Logo Swapping

10. Wimpy and Burger KingLogo Swapping

As resounding as it may sound, the Virgin Galactic typeface is now openly available for purchase to all and sundry. Now this certainly does not imply that the entire Virgin galactic brand or logo design is up for sale. Dalton Maag, the London based design studio has launched a new font named “Elevon” that is reminiscent to the Virgin Galactic Sci-fi font.

The brand identity for Virgin’s spaceflight project was created in 2006 by GBH, a U.K-based creative agency, in partnership with French designer Philippe Starck and Dalton Maag. Its futuristic and sci-fi fonts are quite famous among geeks. Another similar brand identity was introduced a while back for the New London Science Museum logo that included sci-fi fonts.  

The Similarities:

Dalton Maag, a creative font offering studio, is known for selling fonts belonging to famous brands. This time around, a new font named “Elevon” has been created in similarity with the Virgin Galactic brand identity. The typeface was developed to consist of an intergalactic geeky appeal akin to the Virign identity. The typescript consists of square and flat characters with curved edges also similar to the Virgin Galactic brand.  

The Differences:

While there are stark similarities of the ‘Elevon’ font to the Virgin Galactic brand, there is one thing that distinguishes them. In the Elevon font, they have expanded the character set from the original cap and lowercases to full Latin, Greek and Cyrillic lettering. The Virgin brand had just the Latin version. Five weights of stroke thickness create slight variations in the Elevon font that create a minor difference to the Virgin Galactic brand iwdentity.  

Do you think that the Elevon font is similar to the Virgin Galactic typeface?

  ]]> http://www.logoguru.co.uk/blog/virgin-galactic-font-sale/feed/ 0 http://www.logoguru.co.uk/blog/irritating-habits-of-logo-design-clients/ http://www.logoguru.co.uk/blog/irritating-habits-of-logo-design-clients/#comments Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:53:10 +0000 Sam Anderson http://www.logoguru.co.uk/blog/?p=2137

Client dilemma is every professional’s share of sorrow. But when it comes to logo design, dealing with clients has to be one of the trickiest in the professional world. There are several reasons to substantiate this, one being the burden of going through countless revisions. Although, client is the main source of income for logo designers, at times some clients make you think how insolent they can be.

But handling clients is a constituent of being a successful logo designer. There are several types of clients that UK logo designers will face in their careers. So you must learn to respond to them sensibly and appropriately. In my today’s post, I will be enlightening the 5 most irritating habits of clients and how to tackle them reasonably well.

1. Verbal Tirades:

For a logo designer, getting into a verbal tirade is the biggest nightmare. This is because it distracts their concentration from their core job. Some clients can really frustrate logo designers by arguing uselessly for hours. I have been a victim of this dilemma several times in my career. There are times when these frustrating tirades go out of control. So, I bring you few tips to learn how to respond to this situation.

How to Respond:

Keeping your calm is imperative for successful professionals of any field. For logo designers, when they meet clients who tend to start a verbal tirade and realize the conversation is going haywire, I would suggest to put your feet down instantly. Try to calm down the client. Don’t let them make you stoop to their level and maintain your professional level.    

2. Client becomes the Boss:

In most cases, clients have some idea of what they want or at least present their requirements to the logo designers. However, some clients become too bossy although they do not know what they exactly want. It’s acceptable for them to be bossy, since they are paying you for it. But for clients to be interfering and overly domineering client is too much for logo designers. They will try to impose each and everything to the point that you will get frustrated.  

How to Respond:

For clients who are very interferring, there is a simple way of tackling them. In a calming tone, explain the client that if he has everything worked out for the logo and just wants someone who can operate Illustrator, then he might look for someone else. Tell him that your work doesn’t only involve working as a puppet. It is to help clients create a professional identity that will portray their business perfectly.    

3. ‘As easy as pie’ mentality:

Logo designing is a creative and conceptual vocation. It involves great amount of time, whenever you try doing it. But for some clients, designing logos is no big deal. They follow the “As easy as pie” mentality with the designers. They approach designers with a logo as if they are ordering a fast food from a restaurant. Some clients would conveniently say in the middle of a project “I’m not pleased with it, let’s start all over.” No designer likes to hear that their work is so easy that anyone could do it.  

How to Respond:

In order to avoid these kinds of issues, you must spell out your per hour rates so that the client knows that he cannot waste your time. Let him know that your work isn’t “as easy as pie” as they think. Show the client your professional aspects that they are invisible to. Convince them that your work involves a lot more than they believe.    

4. Endless Revisions:

Another great nuisance for log designers is when they are finally done with the logo design, the client arrives with tweaks. Some clients get so finicky that they would demand a version in all colors just to select the best one. Even then, they would go on asking for countless more revisions. For logo designers to hear vague direction as, “make it shinier” is really frustrating as it incorporates a lot of their time in it.  

How to Respond:

The first thing you need to remember is be prepared beforehand for tackling these situations. What you need to do is before finalizing the logo yourself; ask for a final approval for the client so that there is no room for more revisions. Moreover, as I said earlier, you must be clear on your charges and the amount of work you spend on the project will be worth remuneration.    

5. “In a Jiffy” Concept:

Some clients can be impossible at times. They would approach designers and ask for a logo design “in a jiffy”, as if they were standing in a Pizza parlor. These things can really frustrate designers who have to endure a cumbersome process to design the logo. What they don’t understand is that haste makes waste and logos are the work of a conceptual process that takes time to produce.  

How to respond:

One thing that you can simply do is reject a project like this as it will diminish your credentials as a professional logo designer. But if you are desperate for the project, then you must persuade the client with reasoning. Make him sit down and explain your entire logo design process. Then ask him how much time he thinks will take in making the logo design. Most probably, most of clients will agree to your predicament and calm down.     ]]> http://www.logoguru.co.uk/blog/irritating-habits-of-logo-design-clients/feed/ 0