New logo: Embraco

Embraco, a Brazilian manufacturer of refrigeration compressors, unveiled a new logo recently. It is credited to Interbrand.

Previous logo.

Different values have been incorporated into the letterforms, for example the interlocked 'c' and 'o' should resemble an infinity symbol.

A short news article about the rebrand was published by Embraco on July 5, along with a brand page.

New logo: Zurich

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland. Last Thursday, on July 14, a new common brand identity was unveiled which will by used the canton of Zurich, the city of Zurich and the Zurich tourism authority. Included in the identity is a new slogan, "World Class. Swiss Made." and a new logo, which was designed by the Swiss agency Valencia Kommunikation.

The new logo marks a "commitment" by the three parties to develop integrated location and destination marketing for Zurich. The tagline should express "The commitment to the highest standards, Swiss quality and reliability".

The logo comes in two variants, one with a Swiss cross for "general purposes", and one with the "Goldblume", the Swiss tourism emblem. The blue colour is said to be associated with Zurich.

The previous tourism logo included the tagline "Downtown Switzerland" which had allegedly been used for over ten years.

Zürism Tourismus is already using the new logo on their website. A more serious marketing effort is planned for September, and will include ads on CNN International.

Swedish pharmacies

For almost four decades, Sweden was one of few countries in the world with a government run monopoly on pharmacies, banning private retail of pharmaceuticals. When a new centre-right government was elected in 2006, one of its promises was to abolish the monopoly and sell of most of the state-owned pharmacies. This plan was put into action in 2009. Private competition was allowed in late 2009, and a majority of the government-owned pharmacies were rebranded during January and February 2010 as they were transferred to new owners.

The newly privatized pharmacies have been grouped into five new chains. There were also a few actors that have entered the market without acquiring any state-owned pharmacies, but many of them quickly realized that the prospects of reaching profitability were bleak.

Before privatization, all 945 pharmacies in the country were operated by one state-owned company, Apoteket AB. 615 of them were sold, while 330 stayed with Apoteket AB. "Apoteket" means "The Pharmacy", and Apoteket AB holds a trademark on the definite form of the Swedish word for pharmacy ("Apoteket"), while the indefinite form ("apotek") can be used by anyone. Hence, almost all new entrants have included the word "apotek" in their name. They have also gone for remarkably similar visual identies, with most of them using green as signature colour and some variation of a green cross as their symbol.

The old pharmacy logo from the monopoly era.

The logo above was used by all pharmacies before deregulation. It contained a very stylized version of the bowl of Hygieia, a snake coiling around a bowl. Apoteket claims this symbol was first introduced in 1972, although it probably went through some minor changes after that. The typeface used above is called Formata.

All the new identites after the jump.

New logo: SureJet

In November last year, the American regional airline Atlantic Southeast Airlines bought its competitor ExpressJet. On Wednesday, July 13, the corporate identity for the merged airline was announced.

The new airline will be called SureJet, and its logo will combine aspects from both Atlantic Southeast and ExpressJet. The icon used in Atlantic Southest is kept and modified slightly by smoothing out some of the corners. The new italic wordmark is said to be inspired by the old ExpressJet logo, although the two typefaces are of course very different.

Update July 15: The SureJet name has been retracted by Atlantic Southeast management, reportedly because of negative comments online. The press release has been removed from their official website. (Thanks to an anonomous commenter for the tip!)

Atlantic Southeast logo.

ExpressJet logo.

New logo: Warburtons

Warburtons is a British baking group based in Bolton with bakeries across Great Britain. Last autumn, the family bakery launched a new look that was a clean break with the past. The new look was created by the London design agency Smith & Milton, who were appointed in March 2010.

The previous logo, a crest-like creation, which included a red rhombus, blue ribbons and the phrases "Family Bakers" and "Since 1876", was retired in favour of a "confident" wordmark. It is now displayed across the lower half of all packaging.

Previous logo.

The rebrand was announced in UK specialty media in late October and early November last year. At that time, it was reported that the new look would appear on packaging from January, and that the transition would be completed by the summer. It was also reported that the previous look was introduced twelve years ago.

Packaging shots and more information after the jump.

New logo: St. Kitts tourism

The island of Saint Kitts, with a population of 35,000 people, is a part of the Caribbean nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. This year, the St. Kitts Tourism Authority has introduced a new logo to market itself to tourists.

Previous logo.

Replacing a combination of a script wordmark and a local flower, the new logo is an elegant italic wordmark. A ligature between the upper-case S and the lowercase T creates an "open  heart". There is also a "signature graphic" which is inspired by the wordmark and includes another open heart and some waves. To further enforce the heart theme, the new tagline is "Follow Your Heart". The colour scheme (brown and beige) was reportedly inspired by Saint Kitts's natural landscape.

New logo: Thunderbolt

Thunderbolt is a new technology which enables high-speed distribution of data between different personal computers. We're talking 10 gigabits per second.

The technology was presented on February 24, and its logo and symbol was presented at the same time. Unfortunately, Intel doesn't want to disclose who created it, but they have assured me that they are proud of it.

New logo: Marsh & McLennan Companies

Marsh & McLennan Companies is a U.S. professional services company which provides risk management, insurance services and consulting through its subsidiaries Marsh (risk and insurance), Guy Carpenter (risk and reinsurance), Mercer (consulting, outsourcing and investment services) and Oliver Wyman (advice and consulting). Perhaps of most interest to my readers, the Oliver Wyman Group includes the brand strategy firm Lippincott.

Recently, the company announced a rebrand, which it claims to be "a long-term effort to reposition the Company brand". It involves going back to the company's historical roots by once again using the full company name, having primarily referred to itself by its stock symbol MMC for over a decade. The company has also introduced a new logo.

Previous logo.

The new logo includes a symbol, which is described as "an abstract, multi-faceted 'M' symbolizing interconnectedness and cooperation". The symbol will also be used in the logos for Marsh, Guy Carpenter, Mercer and Oliver Wyman, creating a consistent look for the parent company and its subsidiaries.

Before the rebrand, the subsidiaries used simple wordmarks in capital letters, all using the same typeface. Those wordmarks are kept, and the same typeface is now used in the corporate logo.

Subsidiary logos.

Although a press release about the changes was sent out on June 17, it is possible that the new has been around for several months before that.

New logo: Bennigan's (2010)

The American Irish-themed restaurant chain Bennigan's has struggled financially in the last few years, with continous reports about bankruptcy. Perhaps in an attempt to bounce back, last year, the chain launched a new visual identity.

The new logo is a clean break with three decades of swirly "tavern-style" typography, instead going for individualistic slab serif letterforms. The logo can also include a pint of beer, which for some reason has a B from the old logo on it.

The oldest dated use of this logo I've found is from November last year, from a report about the opening of a new restaurant with an updated design. However, it is possible that the new logo was introduced several months before that. I haven't found any media mention of the rebrand.

Previous logo.

The previous logo had been used with minor alterations since the mid-1990s. The logo used before that was introduced in the late 1970s or early 1980s, initially including the word "Tavern".

Logo used until the mid-1990s.

Some visuals of the new identity:

New logo: Munksjö (2010)

Northern Europe is home to vast forests - and profitable paper companies. These companies are of course concerned about their corporate identities, and only this year we've seen two major Nordic pulp and paper companies launch new logos. The Finnish paper company Ahlstrom launched a new logo in late February, while forestry products giant Stora Enso launched its "Rethink" rebrand in April.

Another rebrand which went by without much notice from the design community was the Swedish paper company Munksjö which launched a new visual identity on September 20 last year. It was created by the Stockholm brand agency Volt.

The company has gone through major changes during the last decade. In 2002, it was bought by Ireland's Jefferson Smurfit Group. The Irish sold the company in 2004, keeping Munksjö's packaging business and selling the hygiene tissue business to SCA ("hygiene tissue" = toilet paper, tampons, napkins etcetera). What remained with Munksjö was "décor and specialty paper", niche paper products of high quality.

The new logo keeps the M which has been used by Munksjö for many years, placing it inside a red triangle, with the text "Made by Munksjö" underneath. When possible, the new logo should be placed at the top-right corner, so it looks like a folded corner, symbolizing "Munksjö's role as enabler of innovative product design".

Previous logo.

The previous logo was introduced in 2005 when the M symbol was revived after its brief retirement during the Jefferson Smurfit ownership.

New logo: The Wendy's Company

Last Monday, July 4, Wendy's Arby's Group sold the fast food chain Arby's to Roark Capital Group. Following this sale, the next day, July 5, the company announced that it would change its name to The Wendy's Company, effective the same day.

The Arby's sale means the company will now focus on the Wendy's change, something reflcted in the new company name and logo. The freckle-faced red-haired girl with pigtails from the classic logo used by Wendy's restaurants is now featured in the corporate logo, and the word "Wendy's" shares its color with the girl's hair. The typography is playful and much less "corporate" than its predecessor.

Previous logo.

The company was called Triarc until 2008 when it bought the Wendy's chain and changed its name to Wendy's/Arby's Group. The logo was a stylized combination of the initials W and A.

New logo: Gitanjali Group

Gitanjali Group is an Indian jewellery maker, which claims to be "the world’s largest branded jewellery retailer". Last Thursday, June 30, its new corporate identity was unveiled by the actress Katrina Kaif at a ceremony. The new look is credited to JWT.

Previous logo.

The following excerpt from a press release issued June 30 provides further details on the rebrand:

New logo: Marathon Oil Corporation

Marathon Oil is an American oil company with origins in The Ohio Oil Company, foudned in 1887. Last year it ranked 41 on the Fortune 500 list. Last Friday, on July 1, the company was split in two. What in the petroleum business is referred to as the the upstream business (searching, recovering and producing crude oil and natural gas) stays with Marathon Oil, its subsidiary Marathon Petroleum, which included the downstream business (refining and selling oil and gas), was spun off into a separate company.

Marathon Petroleum will get to keep the logo previously used by both companies. A new logo for Marathon Oil was unveiled on June 30, and went live on various platforms when the spin-off was made official the next day.

The company claims the classic red M in a hexagon was introduced in 1962 when The Ohio Oil Company officially changed its name to the Marathon Oil Company.

The new symbol for the "Marathon Oil Corporation" is described as "an abstracted tri-color energy wave that symbolizes the momentum resulting from its upstream activity as well as the drive and innovation of the Company’s employees".

"The process for creating a new logo began in February with an employee survey. Results of the feedback emphasized eight key attributes of the Company: focused, energetic, innovative, nimble, socially responsible, ethical, driven and global. The logo was designed based on these key descriptors." - Marathon Oil Corporation press release

You can see a long animation of the new logo here.

Marathon Oil press release
Reuters

Olympic bid emblem: Munich 2018

The host of the 2018 Winter Olympics is announced on July 6. Preparing for this, The Branding Source presents the emblems for the three Olympic bids.

Despite being a major winter sports nation, Germany has only hosted the Winter Olympics once, and that was in 1936. Should Munich win the games, they would be the first nation to host both a Winter and a Summer game, as they hosted the Summer games in 1972.

The logo for Munich's application was unveiled on October 16, 2009, just as the IOC had announced that Munich had officially become an applicant city. The logo was selected through an online poll involving three suggestions. The winning design was a stylised M, which could also be likened to the mountains around the city and the roof of the Olympiapark, which was constructed for the 1972 games.

Applicant logo.

When it was unveiled, the logo included a colourful stylised snowflake. It was replaced by the Olympic rings in June 2010 when the IOC declared Munich an official candidate city.

Olympic bid emblem: PyeongChang 2018

The host of the 2018 Winter Olympics is announced on July 6. Preparing for this, The Branding Source presents the emblems for the three Olympic bids.

The South Korean region PyeongChang's bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics is its third bid in a row, after very strong bids for the 2010 and 2014 games which they lost narrowly. Should they win, this would be the first Winter Game held in South Korea.

PyeongChang was the last Olympic applicant to reveal its logo, and did so on January 14, 2010. The following explanation of the logo was provided in an official press release:

The logo shows the spectacular winter scenery of PyeongChang with snowing on the mountains. The dynamics of Olympics and the challenge spirit to victory was represented by the gushing curve. It implies the strong will to win the bid with the curve symbolizing a snowboard and slope of winter sports.

The Olympic rings were added after the IOC declared PyeongChang an official candidate city in June 2010.

PyeongChang 2018 (archive)
GamesBids
Around the Rings

Olympic bid emblem: Annecy 2018

The host of the 2018 Winter Olympics is announced on July 6. Preparing for this, The Branding Source presents the emblems for the three Olympic bids.

Several French cities had expressed interest in hosting the 2018 Olympics, and after considering their opinions, the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF) decided that it would bid. In March 2009, it was anounced that Annecy, a city in the Alps with 50,000 inhabitants, would be the French applicant.

The first logo used for Annecy's attempt to host the Olympics was introduced in 2008, before they had even been recognised by their national Olympic committee as an applicant. Annecy is situated by a lake with mountains around it, and the logo featured mountains and a lake.

The first Annecy 2018 logo.

What Annecy 2018 ended up using as their official applicant logo was a more modern version of its first logo. It was unveiled at a ceremony on the morning of December 1, 2009.

"More modern and more dynamic, the new bid logo expresses the international dimension of the bid." - News article form Annecy 2018

The lake and the mountains were updated and five lines were added. Although the typographic treatment of "Annecy 2018" remained in essence, it was polished somewhat, ironing out some curls, giving the entire logo a look more fitting for a modern sports brand.

The offical applicant logo.

The Olympic rings were added after the IOC declared Annecy an official candidate city in June 2010.

Annecy 2018 news article (archive)
Tribune de Genève

New logo: EDP Energias de Portugal

EDP Energias de Portugal is a major energy company based in Portugal. In addition to its Portuguese home market, EDP owns the Spanish energy company HC Energía and is present in the United States, Brazil, Macau and Africa. Today, July 1, EDP launched a new corporate identity, created by the New York-based designer Stefan Sagmeister.

Previous logo.

The previous "smiling" logo has been around since the middle of the last decade.It was created by the Portuguese brand consultancy Mybrand.

In its place comes a dynamic identity with a bunch of logos made up of geometric shapes. The constant elements are bright shades of red and the white wordmark in the middle, which is still lowercase, but now written with a script typeface.

Seven logo variants.

A map of Portugal
made up of icons.

Also part of the new identity is a myriad of icons, all based on the formula of the new logos and using the same red shades.

The red colour is now used all subsidiaries of the EDP group. The renewable energy division EDP Renováveis, which previously had a green version of the smile logo, is now using a red shape. The EDP name will also be introduced in Spain were it is added to the name of their local subsidiary HC Energía.

Explaining the decision to drop the previous logo, EDP president António Mexia said something to the effect that you don't need be have green logo to be green, and you don't need a smiling logo to say you are happy to interact.

Previous EDP Renovávies logo.

The following images were published by EDP.

New logo: Region Stuttgart

This week, on June 28, a new logo was presented that will market Region Stuttgart, consisting of Germany's sixth-largest city and the municipalities around it, an area with about 2,7 million inhabitants. It was created by the Hamburg-based agency Mutabor.

The rejected 2010 logo.

There was an attempt to introduce a new tourism logo for Region Stuttgart last year. It consisted of several colourful lines that made up a star inspired by the shape of the region and was created by the Berlin agency Embassy. After it was revealed in July 2010, it faced heavy criticism from the local design community, the logo was withdrawn and a new one was commissioned.

Perhaps influenced by the failure of the last logo, this new one is very much a "dialogue logo", as if it was selected to tell critics that their complaints had been listened to. The symbol is in fact referred to as the "dialogue S". Taking inspiration from the first letter in Stuttgart, the mark consists of two speech bubbles, perhaps one responding to the other. One can also see a reference to German quotation marks. Included in the logo is the tagline "Spricht für sich", which means "Speaks for itself", expressing confidence.

Although the example shown above is yellow, the new logo can also be light blue, orange, green or purple. On German brand design blogs like Design Tagebuch and Designlovr you can see several examples of identity application that show the versatility of the new logo.

The logo was selected through a tender involving 200 agencies, of which 10 were selected to pitch. The jury included people who had critised the previous logo.

New logo: Akva Kristall

Akva-Kristall (Аква-Кристалл in Russian) is a Russian company which manufactures and sells bottled water. It is headquartered in the city of Yekaterinburg, and its primary distribution area is the region around it. This relatively young company claims it started as a a small soft drink maunfacturer in 1996, with water production not starting until 2003. Today, it is one of the leading bottled water brands in the region.

Late last year, Akva Kristall got a new corporate identity, created by the design agency RA Voshod, also from Yekaterinburg. Their work involved a new logo, and new label designs.

As you may have guessed, the name translates as Aqua Crystal, and the logo includes references to both water, in the form of the drop shape, and crystal, through the "crystal pattern" with four shades of blue.

Previous logo.

A news article about the new logo was published on Akva-Kristall's website on December 1, 2010, and the new look was probably rolled out some time during this year.

The following images were published by Akva-Kristall and RA Voshod.

New logo: Kenya Power

Last week, on June 22, Kenya Power & Lighting Company (KPLC), the Kenyan electricity provider, was rebranded by shortening its name to Kenya Power and introducing a new corporate identity. The rebrand is part of a larger strategy which includes increasing population access to electricity and making the company better in all sorts of ways.

Ogilvy & Mather East Africa, McKinney Rogers Kenya, and SBO Research Kenya are credited with the rebrand work. The new logo combines corporate aesthetics with distinctly Kenyan features.

Previus KPLC logo.