Time to reposition yourself. An intern ran afoul of the Twittersphere, and it’s now a viral opinion that your brand is dodgy and outdated. Also, you want updated business cards so white that Patrick Bateman will concede defeat.
A thoughtful, well-executed rebrand is a great way to change the public perception of a company and differentiate from the competition, all without spending the money to change your actual product. Exhibit A: in a stumbling rebrand campaign 5 years in the making, people now think Miller Lite tastes better in its throw-back packaging. Although not all are the “best” – some definitely missed the mark – we’ve rounded up the 10 most notable rebrands in 2014.
1. Olive Garden
A quick poll of the office, and the responses include, “It looks like a nondenominational church logo” and “Church newsletter, though this one of course does not have Papyrus.” The simplified olive branch, lime green, and monolinear script combine for a logo that’s pretty generic, although easily read and scalable. Ditching the stucco texture was for the best, but the loss of the leafy dark green and handwritten script makes the notion that Olive Garden is authentic Italian dining ring even more false. But, let’s not forget what’s important: endless breadsticks.
2. DeviantArt
At first, we were skeptical of DeviantArt’s slashed logotype. It dredged up traumatic memories of finally finishing a design and then promptly destroying it with an Xacto knife mishap, hopefully without getting blood on the project. However, a lot of thought and planning went into this rebrand, and we do think it’s leaps and bounds better than the old logo. The sciencey feel is on brand, and we love the slashed type large and dropped out of artwork.
3. Pizza Hut
With the introduction of the “Flavor of Now” campaign, Pizza Hut also rolled out a new logo. The white brush script dropped out of a tomato sauce red looks very similar to a Cici’s Pizza buffet awning. The logo works best when the roof is together with the logotype; separate them, and the roof looks more like a gardening hat. Sign us up for these new uniforms, with taglines like “No one throws a sandwich party” and the vintage Pizza Hut logo.
4. Southwest
Unlike most other airlines, for the past 40 years Southwest has remained profitable and well-loved. This rebrand focuses in on Southwest’s “heart” with the addition of a heart icon to the end of the logotype. Inside of the striped heart are the three Southwest brand colors. We prefer the previous logo’s clear connection to air travel, even if it was thunk-you-over-the-head literal. The new logo could be applied to anything directional: a GPS, an outdoor clothing line, our bank accounts. It’s a different approach than other airlines, but only different, not better.
