Full credit and roundup from Underconsideration.com, thanks guys for the fantastic resources!
We follow on the theme of rebranding by major brands by having a quick roundup. Following on from the calamitous Pepsi rebrand here are 20 rebrands that have taken place over the last few months, let us know what floats your boat.
Starbucks, Back to the Future
Howard Schultz returns as CEO of Starbucks and has unleashed an unprecedented wave of brand nostalgia by deploying the original Starbucks logo.
Kraft Foods, making today delicious
With a new purpose and values setting a fresh direction, Kraft Foods also gave its corporate logo a facelift to more clearly deliver “delicious.” Starting today, people around the world will begin to see the new identity that deliciously features a smile, the natural reaction to delicious foods and experiences, and a colorful flavor burst. It signals to employees, consumers and investors what the new Kraft Foods is all about.
— Press release
Hudson’s Bay Co.
Hudson’s Bay Co., founded in 1670 by King Charles II, is a huge Canadian retailer with over 600 retail locations all across Canada.
Sci Fi becomes SyFy
When networks present their new programming, sell big chunks of advertising and announce any major changes — the 16-year-old Sci Fi Channel announced that on July 7 it will change its name and identity to Syfy.
Jack in the box
The old logo had all the fixings of a classic American fast food chain logo: red and quirky typography. Plus years of equity. The new logo is a very contemporary departure from the original, which is par for what’s been happening to fast food logos, and the new, custom script is quite attractive and dynamic. And, pending a press release, I’m pretty sure the tail of the “k” is meant to be a smile.
Citroen
Designed by Landor, the new logo comes as Citroën celebrates its 90th anniversary (founded in 1919) and as it unveils new models of its DS line
Air France
Operating since 1933, Air France has become one of the biggest and most recognized airlines in the world, traveling to nearly 100 countries. A new identity, replacing its last update since 1975, has been designed by Brandimage.
Asian Football Confederation
Hosted by the Asian Football Confederation, Asia’s governing body of soccer, the annual AFC Champions League features the best clubs from each country competing for Asian soccer supremacy. This past December they unveiled a new identity aimed towards the new and growing generation of soccer enthusiasts.
Sprite
Just in time for the NBA All-Star’s Slam Dunk contest which Sprite sponsors they are putting into use a new, dynamic and active logo that, in context, is actually quite decent.
My Fonts
With an ever growing library of more than 62,000 typefaces from more than 400 foundries and designers, MyFonts has been one of the most comprehensive shopping spots on the web since its launch in 1999.
Sandisk
SanDisk / Pound for pound, letter for letter, ligature for ligature, the best redesign of a wordmark that retains the essence of the original while pushing the company into the new, young century.
Ford
Ha! Only kidding. Making sure you’re paying attention.
Pepsi
Pepsi Rebrand, absolute waste of millions of dollars.
Capitol One
Capital One / A swoosh in 2009? And, even by swoosh standards, a crappy one at that?
Xerox
Xerox / Taking the marble-lowercase trend to the extreme. And sucking at it. Barclaycard came in close second in this category.
Barclaycard
Barclaycard / My sister works for them so I best be nice.
Roundup
Pepsi takes the crown for worst logo rebrand in the category years 2006-2009. Our personal winner has to be Citroen, simple, shinny and French – Au revoir!
Full credit and roundup from Underconsideration.com, thanks guys for the fantastic resources!
March 20th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
I don’t like that original Starbucks logo at all, hope they don’t use it to replace the established one everywhere – looks like it should just be on a bag of coffee myself and no other place?
I agree, Citroen looks quite cool as a logo, still wouldn’t make me buy one though
That new Sprite logo just looks terrible imo, one of the worst, looks like a poor ‘design a logo’ competition winner.
Barclaycard look better I think, too much unused space in the old one.
March 20th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
How about the new Ford logo, it’s epic!
March 20th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Yeah, love the new Ford Logo.
It makes me think Airplane Coffee.
March 21st, 2009 at 8:19 am
I don’t think they should have messed with the Kraft logo – it was instantly recognisable before and now it’s not. Maybe they could have done a Citroen and kept it the same only making it shiny.
My favourite redesign is the Hudson Bay co – the old logo looked very 80s and the new one captures the history of the company but still looks up to date.
I sort of think that a good logo should be memorable enough that you could draw it – the Champions League logo imo goes over the top – it’s far too cgi’d and it just doesn’t look like a logo anymore – it’s a complicated picture. Try and draw it!
Its really interesting to see where the designers have gone with each brand – and how successful/unsuccessful they were
Piggynap’s last blog post..Lenny Henry In Othello – West Yorkshire Playhouse
March 22nd, 2009 at 12:12 am
is Pepsi for real?
AFC Champions League = good job!
I’ll miss the old Kraft and Jack in the Box
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:04 pm
It is so interesting to see the old and new logos next to each other like that. Sometimes you don’t realize that a company rebrands its image until their logos are put in front of you in such a way.
March 23rd, 2009 at 8:57 pm
hi, how are you doing?
i like your blog & was looking around it & will follow you on twitter as it seems like you do some great stuff & have some interesting things to say, but… you should probably credit underconsideration.com for all of those images.
congrats again on the lovely work.
dan
March 24th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
They never rebranded starbucks. Thats the old logo. Its still the green one.
March 24th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Hi Alec
You are indeed correct, Howard Schultz returned as CEO of Starbucks and deployed the original Starbucks logo in a few coffee houses to put a spark into this stagnant brand. TBH I prefer the old one
March 24th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Sci Fi Channel’s change to SyFy is probably one of the most idiotic moves I’ve ever seen a company make.
March 24th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
I disagree with you regarding the Pepsi logo. It is true to its brand, but takes a step forward in realizing each brand extension by giving it its own “smile”. Diet pepsi has a smaller “smile” (for obvious reasons) and Pepsi max has a bigger one. Genius.
Not only did they change the mark, they changed the type. Might wanna mention that as well.
These elements create better brand awareness and strengthens the brand as a whole.
I did not design it, but I admire it.
March 24th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
At least the pepsi one is somewhat original, I think the Xerox is by far the worst, simply because its the Xbox 360 logo turned sideways.
March 24th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Great comments, all have very valid points. It’s great to see others perspectives and understandings of rebrands, most insightful.
March 25th, 2009 at 2:19 am
I HATE the new Ford logo. The old one looked nice, and the new one looks like shit. It doesn’t suit Ford.
March 25th, 2009 at 2:21 am
haha, I definitely should have read underneath the pictures. guess it just got me all fired up
oops
March 25th, 2009 at 2:25 am
Pepsi is for real. As for the starbucks, as it was the original, I completely support it going back. Also, it may take a while to get them into circulation as they have to go through the remaining current ones.
March 25th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Haha, very nice.
I just had the time to say “what the f” (when looking at the Ford logo) before reading underneath.
Nice post. I like people who care about good logo’s and fonts.
And sorry for my english, i would have say it better if je m’étais exprimé en français.
March 26th, 2009 at 12:35 am
Tropicana’s new design is along the same vein as these. I think it’s one of the best:
http://www.avoision.com/portnoy/images/2009/february/redlineAds_3.jpg
March 28th, 2009 at 5:31 am
The Pepsi one is ridiculous…. but Ford really made me laugh. Nice one!!
Media Design’s last blog post..Search Engine Optimization is not God.
March 28th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Here’s my two cents:
Starbucks – What’s this? The 1950′s? Bad move.
Kraft – The old logo was very strong and recognisable, why change it?
Syfy – *facepalm*
Jack – Yes! This is how it’s supposed to be! Very 2009.
Citroen – New font looks like shit.
Airfrance – Perfect. Good job!
AFC – Better, but try limiting the colors.
SanDisk – Definitely an improvement.
Ford – Ha ha!
Pepsi – Strange move, the red and blue wave is known everywhere, new logo looks good, though.
Last three – Good job, much improvement.
That’s for my petty little remarks.
March 28th, 2009 at 11:30 am
no, the pepsi logo is not genius, it looks like a fat person, which is what pepsi makes you. (and don’t think your getting off easy with diet, that will cause all sorts of other problems, being the chemical mess that it is.)
March 28th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
You got me on the Ford! I said out loud,’your’e kidding’ …and then you answered me …very funny!
and you also read my thoughts on Capital One.
Pepsi … well I just wish I could have a fraction of what they paid for something that looks like a plumber’s behind!
Great post!
March 28th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Pepsi, Kraft, Sci Fi = mistake, distracting elements
Sprite = on right track but remove holly leaf thing
Jack in the box = mixed reaction
AFC = get rid of the 3D & I like it – person kicking soccer ball idea is cool
SanDisk, MyFonts = clean, no distracting elements
March 28th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
I agree that the Pepsi one was a wasted effort. Everytime I see it, I think of the post by artist Lawrence Yang showing it as a fat person… http://blowatlife.blogspot.com/2009/02/pepsi-logo-response.html .
My faves are definitely the HBC logo and, curiously enough, the SanDisk one. It’s just so classically simple.
March 28th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
I think the AFC one is adorable
March 28th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
SanDisk and MyFonts are by far the ones on the list. Some of the redesigns from these companies are terrible (pepsi, xerox, SciFi). I really want to like Kraft, but I believe the old logo was strong – new one is too busy for me. Maybe if it was sans-tagline, it would be better.
March 28th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
I think the new Pepsi logo is terrible. The shape looks amatuerish, like some designer had 50 awesome logos, and one that he/she whipped together without much thought or effort and a committee said, let’s go with that one, it looks different from all the other logos. Just my .02 cents.
March 28th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
The Asian Football Confederation logo is a great improvement. The new logo has so much color and movement. I think it takes the cake of all the ones presented here. I also noticed that Starbucks went back in time, reverting to the look of their original logo. I thought the reason behind upgrading their logo (from the naked mermaid to the not-so-naked one) was to cover up her chest…and now they go back? Very confusing.
March 28th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Some of them are just awful
March 28th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
The new Starbucks logo sucks bigtime.
March 29th, 2009 at 8:20 am
The only ones that I think are well done, simplified and bring a stronger more solid brand presence are Air France and SanDisk…
It’s funny that you had the fake Ford logo…I actually prefer that one…the existing Ford logo is horribly outdated, and while known, looks horrible on their cars and is one of the reasons why I’ll NEVER own a Ford myself…
March 29th, 2009 at 9:49 am
I think the SyFy is a logical progression and improvement. Xerox was easier and simpler before the redesign. Why add a silly shape? Just complicates a company that should be dealing in clear simple communication. And Sprite!!!! OMG Yuk
March 29th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Are these real?
March 30th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
[...] 15 Major Brands Rebrand – What is it about a Global Economic Downturn (GED) that causes a flurry of rebranding? I could be wrong but I would guess that Ford isn’t going to suddenly see a major shift in sales because they’ve decided to drop “ord” from their mark. However, maybe dropping the “ord” is simply a clever cost saving measure. More on Ford here. [...]
March 31st, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Is that really the new pepsi logo? :s
April 1st, 2009 at 5:18 pm
in my opinion…
the best – Jack in the Box
the worst – Pepsi
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:01 am
[...] Really nice looking magazine available online and in print form. 5/ 15 Major Brands Rebrand (thefloatingfrog.co.uk) Some great, some [...]
April 9th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
the new pepsi logo looks like some dude threw a pepsi bottle in a fire, then saw the logo as it melted and said “hey, re-branding!” so basically, it looks like the old logo melted. needless to say, retarded idea, crappy product (my opinion)
April 20th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Nooooooooooooooo!
they must not use that new Ford logo! I hate it!
the green starbucks logo is very good, why change it?
“if sumfing ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
May 5th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Today, a logo is more than letters arrangement or graphics placement. It’s more about colors, texture, size, shape and the unique design concepts that matters a lot to bring out the creativity. I like firefox (updated) logo, i don’t like phoenix / firebird. Thanks for shairing comments.
May 19th, 2009 at 12:53 am
MAN WORST REDESING EVER.
Starbucks – WTF IS THAT THING?
Kraft – TOYSTORE?
Hudson’s Bay Co. – NOT AGAIN WITH THE DEERS, 15-18 century
Sci Fi – YOU DONT RENAME COMPANY, NEVER
Jack in the box – Good ,but could be better.
Citroen – WHY PEOPLE JUST STARTED HATING GOOD OLD SIMPLE STUFF! Citroen new logo crap.
Air France – This one i like, it is clean.
Asian Football Confederation – first and second are shit, so…
Sprite – No good.
My Fonts – GOOD GOOD GOOD LOVE IT.
SanDisk – FRESH
Ford – my god, you dont change the epic stuff!!!
Pepsi – no comment.
my god i cant go on….. this is too sad for me.
Adrijan’s last blog post..GAD
June 19th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Great post, really interesting to see how major companies rebrand themselves. It would be interesting to see how much they spent too.
Think the Barclaycard rebrand is the best, along with Air France
Can’t BELIEVE the Pepsi one … very poor and i don’t get why they have changed
Love the Kraft slogan .. make today delicious … lol
July 9th, 2009 at 1:37 am
I agree about the Pepsi logo… Never mind who created it.. But who voted that crap in at the corp level? Really.. I’ve not heard one person comment that they like it. I have however, heard a few people say it’s ugly.
July 9th, 2009 at 1:38 am
Yea. The original pepsi logo looked like a yin yang symbol. I am suprised they didnt pick up on this and use it in their ads. Or did they? I dont know.
July 9th, 2009 at 1:39 am
yea the new pepsi log sux.
November 14th, 2009 at 9:50 am
The only design which has gone from good to bad is the Sci Fi becomes SyFy, lol the first logo is clearly more up to date! wtf
January 2nd, 2010 at 5:57 am
“the existing Ford logo is horribly outdated, and while known, looks horrible on their cars and is one of the reasons why I’ll NEVER own a Ford myself…”
I’m not saying Ford is a great company, but if an emblem makes your list of ‘why not to buy (BRAND) car’, you’re a retard.
July 28th, 2010 at 1:55 am
[...] http://www.thefloatingfrog.co.uk/graphic-design/15-major-brands-rebrand/ [...]
May 30th, 2011 at 4:20 pm
Hmmm, personally I’d say…
Starbucks = Definately before!
Kraft = Definately before – The new one is absolutely forgettable!
Hudsons Bay = After
Syfy = After – This has now given it a real identity, rather than a generic name which anyone could have used (hence the reason they renamed it!). Looks great too!
Jack In The Box = Before – I’ve never heard of this brand before, but I love the original
Citreon = No preference, both are pretty bland. But at a push I’d say before.
Air France = After
AFC = Neither – hate them both
Sprite = Before
MyFonts = After
SanDisk = After
Pepsi = Going against the general thoughts of everyone here – After! As the new one has a much stronger feel and gives them a lot of flexibility to use (as the elements change for different uses.
CapitalOne = Before – the new one’s hideous.
Xerox = Tricky one this. I’m going to say after, but I don’t feel the ball was needed – as the type on it’s own feels quite strong.
Barclaycard = After. And I say this as a Barclaycard customer – I always hated the old logo, and was more than happy when they finally changed it to this.