Valleywag
design
Posts Tagged “
Branding
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design
loser-generated content
Where would you put the Wikipedia logo?
With ICQ lending its name to an Israeli toothpaste manufacturer and Google trucking branded ice cream bars to its Mountain View headquarters, no wonder Jimmy Wales is thinking about how Wikipedia can cash in on brand licensing. The only problem: Wales's marketing ideas are as dull as his sexual fantasies. Board games? Discovery Channel specials? Boring! More »
bad ideas
Xerox finds a new logo on the playground
Xerox is synonymous with copiers. But it urgently wants you to forget all that — and, as well, its brief, pointless stint as a "document management company." It has now joined hundreds of young, hip Internet companies with 3D glassy ball logos. Xerox hired Interbrand to spend 18 months conducting 5,000 interviews to rationalize the new logo: "friendlier" lowercase letters, a slick new typeface, and the obligatory ball, which is supposed to "suggest forward movement and 'a holistic company.'" I just think: kid's toy. More »
Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz wrote a blog post to explain why the server hardware maker has changed its stock ticker from SUNW to JAVA, emphasizing its Java programming language and software suite. Luckily, he left comments enabled on the post, leading to gems like this: "This is a move right out of the Dilbert school of management." [Jonathan's Blog via Fake Steve]
Microsoft is allegedly demanding that startup XBux change its name to the far less hip XBucks, lest consumers be unable to distinguish between its Xbox 360 videogame console and a network that unites athletes with sponsors. Of course, we imagine Starbucks will then have grounds, as it were, to complain. [VentureBeat]
branding
Literal-minded naming is a helpful trait in a programmer. For a brand marketer, it's utter disaster. The geek-centered culture at Microsoft has produced such monstrosities as "Windows XP 64-Bit Edition For 64-Bit Extended Systems." Paging the Department of Redundancy Department! News.com explores how David Webster, a recently hired branding expert, is upping Microsoft's name game. Last year, Robert Scoble talked to Webster about how he was trying to ban supposedly "cool" codenames that didn't pop on Google searches; now, Webster's trying to advance consumer-friendly names like Silverlight, Popfly and Surface. Certainly an improvement over past atrocities like Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack — oh, wait. That's a present atrocity. Back to work, Webster.
"Say my name, say my name" is Microsoft's new tune
Literal-minded naming is a helpful trait in a programmer. For a brand marketer, it's utter disaster. The geek-centered culture at Microsoft has produced such monstrosities as "Windows XP 64-Bit Edition For 64-Bit Extended Systems." Paging the Department of Redundancy Department! News.com explores how David Webster, a recently hired branding expert, is upping Microsoft's name game. Last year, Robert Scoble talked to Webster about how he was trying to ban supposedly "cool" codenames that didn't pop on Google searches; now, Webster's trying to advance consumer-friendly names like Silverlight, Popfly and Surface. Certainly an improvement over past atrocities like Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack — oh, wait. That's a present atrocity. Back to work, Webster.
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