Twitter flies high

"Over the past six years, the world has become familiar with a little blue bird. The bird is everywhere, constantly associated with Twitter the service, and Twitter the company. Starting today you’ll begin to notice a simplified Twitter bird. From now on, this bird will be the universally recognizable symbol of Twitter. (Twitter is the bird, the bird is Twitter.) There’s no longer a need for text, bubbled typefaces, or a lowercase “t” to represent Twitter."

This is what Twitter's Creative Director Doug Bowman had to say, three days ago, about the decision of changing the company's logo.

In the new version, the little bird mantains its colour and shape, but with a few changes: he's looking more towards the sky as if taking flight, and he lost some of his feathers, especially on top of his head. The new logo was designed from three sets of overlapping circles, representing the way our "...networks, interests and ideas connect and intersect with peers and friends".

Bowman doesn't really explain the reason behind the sudden change. It's not like Twitter is losing popularity. If something, it's gaining more and more each day; there weren't any changes within the company, regarding  new acquisitions, new management, new name and the logo concept was kept the same: the bird it's still a bird.

This is, therefore, a change that will have little or no effect on people. Like Bowman said, it was just a way to simplify things and "burden" only the bird (forgetting the "T", etc) with Twitter, the service, and Twitter, the company.

Sources:

• http://blog.twitter.com/
• https://twitter.com/about/logos

Ana Nascimento

My personal lovemark: Havaianas

The topic about lovemarks is long gone but I couldn’t help to bring the topic once more, especially because some brands become so popular that, sooner or later, become international lovemarks. We talked about them during the class: Starbucks, Bic, Ben & Jerry’s… I intend to talk about one of my personal lovemarks, which turned out to be one of those cases.

I believe you know Havaianas, a Brazilian flip flop’s brand.

The brand was launched in 1962, inspired in Zori, the Japanese sandals (in fact, that is the reason why each Havaiana has a specific rice pattern).  It became popular over the years and, by the beginning of the nineties, publicity took a huge step with celebrity endorsement, being Havaianas the thing to wear in Brazil. In 2000 began the internationalization of the brand, on a way that, by 2003, an exclusive model was given to each of the Academy Awards’ nominees. Now, they exist in more than 60 countries all over the world.

The brand became huge! You can find them anywhere, and I had no idea of that fact; just the other day I was walking through Gent and I saw someone wearing a pair. You have models for every taste and price: from the most cheap ones and simple to expensive and full of decorations, every colour and combination… you can even design your own model, in some countries!

It became trendy, at least in Portugal, to have a pair of Havaianas. The thing is that you can get the same kind of flip flops cheaper in any store, but people still continue to find that these are the ones, the best, the cutest ones. I cannot say that I don’t agree with the opinions.

For me, I don’t think is about fashion or being trendy (because, we all know that, when the Summer comes, you can see Havaianas everywhere, every time); I just like them. I’m positively sure that I don’t need to spend this kind of money in flip flops, but the thing is that the design and everything surrounding the brand attracts me. I’m even wearing them right now, at home. I don’t call my flip flops by flip flops anymore, just Havaianas, which I know that Im not the only one.

More than a pair of shoes, are an accessory, an accessory that people like to show to others. I believe I can say for sure that this is one of the biggest lovemarks in Portugal and, I must say, one of my personal ones, too.

You can get all the information about Havaianas in their website: http://havaianas.com

Inês Maria

LEGO - more than half a century of commitment

In the first couple of years of the 1930's, Ole Kirk Christiansen was a dannish carpenter who, like many others, had to fight the Great Depression. Therefore, he began to manufacture wood toys.Those wood toys had a special thing about them: if you were to fit one in the other, you'd create a new thing. The combinations were endless.

In the fifties, the toys got some exposure. Ole called them LEGO, the juction of the first two letters of the dannish expression "leg godt", wich meant "play well". They began to be produced in plastic. The Lego Group's motto was - since the late Billun Woodworking and Carpenter's Shop (Olek first company name) - and still is "det bedste er ikke for godt", meaning roughly "the best is never too good". Ole Kirk created this motto to encourage his employees never to skimp on quality, a value in believed in strongly.

Nowadays, and I think I speak for my generation, it's hard to imagine childhood without countless hours spent mouting Legos to build houses, cars, gardens, and even people. The little bricks have evolved in design and material, but their essence is still the same: to provide youngsters and adults a fun time, while being able to be creative.

LEGO is a brand that, over the years, has mantained a rock proof identity which made it very successful: they created an emotional connection with the consumers, who have passed that relationship with the brand to the next generation over and over until the present days - according to Kevin Roberts (Saatchi & Saatchi), we can call it a Lovebrand. And it's because of that relationship that LEGO was able to come up with this campaign, that mixtures pop culture and the product they've been selling for more than 50 years.

They chose a few emblematic characters from cartoons, comics and a very famous TV shows to get people to notice LEGO (even more). I believe the campaign's target is the commited consumers, the ones who opted for LEGO since day one and never looked back; it brings back 'older' (my dad read them!) comics, like Astérix and Obélix and Lucky Luke, and shows like Sesame Street or The Simpsons, which have been running for many years now. It's not a campaign for the grandsons and daughters of those consumers: nowadays, the thrill is all about Noddy and Gormitis, not about the old classics like The Smurfs or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

We can, therefore, see, how LEGO bets in its commited consumers more than in finding new ones (although the recent colection just for little girls has been a hit in the USA). In this case, it's a efficient marketing strategy, because all of LEGO's status comes from word of mouth through generations. For my part, I shall never forget my first box of LEGOs.

Ana Nascimento


Source: http://adsoftheworld.com/