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Tag Archives: Rebranding

University of California Flushes New Logo

By on Posted in AlphaWatch, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Social Networking, Trademarks

So, last Friday we covered this story: Critics Flush New University of California Logo. Now, we can report that the next morning, the Los Angeles Times wrote this story: Maligned UC Logo Shelved; “Time to Move On,” Officials Say. Putting aside any possible questions about cause and effect, is there a difference between flushing a… Continue Reading

An open letter to Avis on the advent of their new slogan: What was that again?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Trademarks

-Dave Taylor, Owner, Taylor Brand Group Dear Avis, 50 years is a long time to sustain a slogan. Imagine the cultural change it has to navigate. Just look at the changes in the rental car industry since 1962. Yet your recently retired slogan, We Try Harder, survived and at least kept you in the number… Continue Reading

Re-Branding Can Be A Painful Experience

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Squirrelly Thoughts, Trademarks

This roadside sign near exit 115 on Interstate 94 in Wisconsin was hard to resist capturing. My first thought: I hope more care goes into the tattoo removal process than it took to create the cold, basic sign shown here. And, hearing how painful tattoo removal is, the stark blood red letters don’t demonstrate an interest to calm… Continue Reading

MOM’s New Look

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Food, Marketing

–Susan Perera, Attorney Just announced yesterday, Minneapolis based Malt-O-Meal has changed its name to MOM Brands. Malt-O-Meal which has been making cereal for almost a century, manufactures private label brands for a multitude of grocery retailers (as well as their own lines of hot and cold cereal and oatmeal) and today stands as one of… Continue Reading

Changing Your Brand Color: No More Golden Arches?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Famous Marks, Food, International, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks

–Susan Perera, Attorney Last year I had a running discussion on color trademarks.  I blogged about the issues surrounding the protection of a color as a non-traditional trademark, the impact of industries clustering around a particular color, and the concern that functionality may impede protection of a color trademark.  Need a refresher? Check here, here,… Continue Reading

When Should You Change Your Name?

By on Posted in Guest Bloggers

—Mark Prus, Marketing Consultant at NameFlashSM In my NameFlashSM name development business, I sometimes get asked by clients, “Should I change my brand name?” From a purely selfish standpoint my answer should be “YES!” because I get paid to generate names! But the reality is that there are times when you should not change your… Continue Reading

Gap, Tropicana, The Wall Street Journal, and the 1968 Tet Offensive

By on Posted in Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Product Packaging

by James Mahoney, Creative director/writer at Razor’s Edge Communications What does a 42-year-old military offensive have to do with branding and social media? Quite a bit, as it happens. Consider four seemingly unrelated situations: First, clothing purveyor Gap experienced an alleged misadventure recently when it unveiled a "new logo" on its website, only to reinstate… Continue Reading

The B-Word Again, A Commercial Sighting

By on Posted in Branding, Marketing, Trademarks

As you may recall, back in October, Randall Hull of The Br@nd Ranch® wrote about the Brinks Home Security re-brand to Broadview Security, in his post Will Any Old B-Word Do? This was Randall’s assessment: Personally, when I think Brink’s I see a big Rottweiler eyeing you warily. With Broadview I imagine a yappy Chihuahua chasing its tail. It is… Continue Reading

Supreme Court Declines to Hear Redskins Trademark Case

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Trademarks, TTAB

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the requested appeal of Harjo v. Pro-Football, Inc., the nearly two-decade old trademark case seeking cancellation of the U.S. Trademark Registrations owned by the NFL franchise in the Nation’s Capitol. In doing so, the highest Court in the land, has permitted the laches ruling to stand. Basically, permitting dismissal of the action given a… Continue Reading

What’s G? For Gatorade, G is Gruesome

By on Posted in AlphaWatch, Branding, Food, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Trademarks

Gatorade’s efforts to re-brand as “G” have been a dismal failure. It seems as if the brand management staff at Gatorade consumed a few too many cold beverages while making this decision, and I’m not referring to refrigerated Gatorades. The history of the G re-brand has its roots in 2007. Unit sales were flat in… Continue Reading

Holiday Inn’s Relaunch: Do We Have a Problem, Houston?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Look-For Ads, Trademarks

–Dan Kelly, Attorney Time for me to play dumb consumer and ask an honest question.  What is the conventional wisdom in relaunching or revitalizing a brand:  do you tell consumers that you’re doing it, or not? I suspect that there is no universal answer, but Holiday Inn’s “relaunch” has admittedly caught my attention.  (It caught… Continue Reading

Supreme Court Asked to Review Washington Redskins Trademark Case

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, First Amendment, Law Suits, Marketing, Trademarks, TTAB

Back in May, I wrote a piece entitled "Re-Branding Madness in Washington" Overlooks Obvious: The Washington Redskins," discussing the trademark cancellation action that I filed on behalf of seven prominent Native American leaders back in September 1992 (Harjo et al v. Pro-Football, Inc.), and calling for the football team to "hire a branding guru to engage… Continue Reading

“Chief Wahoo” Re-Branding Underway? A Painful Lesson on Saving Face

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, First Amendment, Marketing, Trademarks

     A picture can say a thousand words; so does a face. The same is probably true of non-verbal logos, including the several federally-registered "Chief Wahoo" logos, shown above (all apparently still in use by the "Cleveland Indians" professional baseball team, according to their latest trademark filings). So, what do they say to you? My take? I can… Continue Reading

“Re-Branding Madness in Washington” Overlooks Obvious: The Washington Redskins

By on Posted in Branding, First Amendment, Law Suits, Marketing, Trademarks

Re-branding occurs all the time. Re-branding occurs in business. Remember when Bell Atlantic became Verizon? Andersen Consulting became Accenture? How about when Philip Morris became Altria?   Re-branding occurs in politics too. Just days ago, Judson Berger discussed a kind of "re-branding madness" consuming Washington, D.C. right now: "Terrorist attack is out. — ‘man caused disaster’ is in." Our friends at Catchword Branding had… Continue Reading

A Rose by Any Other Name

By on Posted in Famous Marks, Marketing

–Sharon Armstrong, Attorney Most of us trademark and marketing types are used to extolling the virtues of a strong brand to our clients – “invest, protect, and build goodwill,” we tell them, “and you’ll be on the way to a valuable brand.” This philosophy used to hold true even when times were tough – K-mart,… Continue Reading