A brand new decade.

Over the past months (it's been almost nine months since my last brand confession) I've gone through a brand crisis, asking myself what good brands really do in the greater scheme of things. Can brands make the world a better place? Can they help stop climate change? My questions led me to take an indefinite break in writing.

During this time the world has continued on its own. Social media exploded. The climate debate is getting louder. I don't think there are really clear answers to my questions, but I've decided to break the brand break. Below are five brands that are doing their bit in changing the world.

1) Avaaz is a "global web movement with a simple democratic mission: to close the gap between the world we have, and the world most people want".

2) TOMS shoes is saving the world by giving a way one pair of shoes for every pair sold.

3) Aspen design summit gathered top executives in search for solving global challenges.

4) Cop 15 (15th United Nations Climate Change Conference) failed to create a world wide contract of CO2 emission decrease, but succeeded in raising climate awareness among people all over the world.

5) Creatables is a small Swedish design firm started by an engineer. They design products from industrial waste materials.

6) In November this year, AIGA and Winterhouse Institute organized the Aspen Design Summit, who brought together some 60 top executives (Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO was one of them) with the aim of solving large social problems by applying design thinking.

I wish you all a brand new decade!

A brand at heart

Ronja was my favourite, wild and dreamy, doing what she liked. And Madicken wasn't so bad either, though sometimes the stories around her a bit scary, like when Lisabeth hitch-hiked with the evil man and was left in the snow, before the nice couple picked her up. And Pippi, of course. And the Lion Heart Brothers…

There is no author that has shaped my childhood more than Astrid Lindgren. Just as she has influenced children all over the world.

The brand of Astrid lives on, not just in the hearts of all of us, but also on the Internet. The official website of Astrid Lindgren (run by her family, through the company Saltkråkan AB) has just been updated (in time for the Astrid Lindgren award), eleven years since it was first launched. So far it's in Swedish, but an English version is on the way. And perhaps other languages too.

In my opinion the site is a bit PC (politically correct), but anything for Astrid, hey!

To Mexico with love

Ever since I laid my hands on The New Guide To Identity, by Wolff Olins, I've been an admirer of brand guru Wally Olins. His approach to brand strategy is more accessible than for example David A. Aaker's.

Olins is now the chairman of Saffron Brand Consultants, and to make a long story short, I came across their identity work for new Mexican bank El Banco Deuno – ‘One's bank’ (I don't think Saffron is responsible for the website, at least I hope they're not). Although the logo has a slight resemblance with Dunkin Donuts, I like the way it feels like Mexico (where I've never been, by the way, but have a clear brand image of it in my head). It's warm, welcoming and playful, but slightly serious at the same time (which could be good for a bank, right?). "The new bank for the new Mexico" is the tagline.

All in all I like the handling of typography (the alphabet is inpired by a pre-Columbian pattern), but what's up with the C? It doesn't optically align with the B and the U in the logo (sorry, I'm getting tangled up in details here). But, as I said, I like it, and here it is:



But hey, what's up with the name? I'm getting confused. Saffron calls them El Banco Deuno, but they call themselves El Banco de Uno (which of course seems more right, if you know a bit of Spanish)… Anybody know?

30 year old new design

Brindfors (or Lowe Brindfors) is one of Sweden's larger ad agency brands (with clients like Saab and Tiger of Sweden). In time for their 30th anniversary, Brindfors is launching a new graphic design program, with funny stickers and a touch of the seventies. The base is a specially designed typeface – called Brindfors. Colours are said to be inspired by the office building the agency is calling their home.

The aim is to make something "personal and yet professional, and it was important with the witty tone of voice", says Art Director Noel Pretorius who worked together with Time Scheibel on the project.

People already find the new desig to be a bit too close to multi-talent brand Acne. I have to agree.


Overview of the graphic design program

Brindfors Black Display and Text


The old logotype

Time to move back to NYC?

There are more reasons to love New York than the fact that there is strong support for the new president. In February, my favorite brand, British Orla Kiely, is launching their new collection for Target.

From beautiful place mats, storage boxes and serving ware to a fabulous 50's apron, the collection makes me question ever leaving the Big Apple. I even heard rumors of the opening of a brand store, but so far I haven't had that confirmed. Anybody know if they've opened yet?



My favourites are the place mats and the apron…

No more bush

Another example of a brand that exploits the Obama fever, in another fashion, is Veet. I don't know about you, but it made me smile.

Wonderland chocolate

When I was young, my parents used to read to me. If I can remember correctly, it was mostly Astrid Lindgren, but on occasion the quirky tale by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, or Lewis Carrol, Alice in Wonderland.

Perhaps Switzerland really is where Alice's went down the rabbit-hole, but I always imagined Wonderland to be positioned in England. In any case, Swiss chocolate brand Alice doesn't contain any visible anthropomorphic creatures, but experiencing the website with its music box tune somehow still puts me in that special, sad but wonderful mood I felt when listening to the story about Alice.

The combination with the packaging and the dark and mysterious (?) chocolate, makes me start believing in this little world…

Change is in the air

With a new president in the world's (still) most influential nation, the US brand is about to change. At least this is what the world, and most US citizens, hope for.

Like many other companies, Swedish furniture company IKEA surfed on the Obama change wave, and launched the outdoor campaign Embrace change 09. A full scale replica of the Oval Office was placen at Union Station in Washington and furnished by the furniture giant. Barack Obama was offered free furniture if he chose to furnish the Oval Office with IKEA's products.

I'm quite disappointed with IKEA's choice of furniture. Being Swedish, I regard them as having a better sense of interior decoration. And I also wonder if the chosen furniture would be Obama's chioce. I hope not.



In an online part of the campaign, even non-presidents have a chance to furnish the Oval Office. The link Change begins at home takes the user to a virtual office to furnish. Quite funny, but they could have made more realistic furniture graphics.

Another company that is cleverly hitch-hiking on the Obama fever is upmarket pre-designed corporate id oneline shop johnlook.com. With the new concept, Look for change, you can easily get you Obama-like business cards, complete with the same typface (Gotham, by Tobias Frere-Jones, made for GQ magazine in 2001) that the American president has been using in his campaign. Clever John!

Beautiful brands with a history

Packaging is one of the traces that a brands leave behind, and a very tactile expression of identity. On Rue Anchieta in Lisbon, Portugal, resides a store with an interesting mix of old brands. A Vida Portuguesa, open since May 2007 and owned by Caterina Portas, focuses on brands 40 years old or more. Have a look at some of their beautifully packaged brands!

SAS takes off?

With the late financial turbulence in the airline industry, it was surprising to read about Scandinavian Airlines, SAS, and their initiative to invite the public to take part in a marketing contest. The aim was to collect ideas for SAS's marketing.

The airline company collaborated with Mypitch, and 51 entries were collected, ranging from clients and creatives in different countries. Three finalists were chosen on January 12th and on January 15th a winner, graphic designer Joakim Werner, was announced.

Werner's campaign idea, "Up and down" is exploring the phenomenon of up and down movements in an airport. "Planes taking off, putting down suitcases, lifting suitcases, standing up, sitting down, etc."

The words from SAS about the winner: "This synopsis shows good balance between emotional and rational. We land in a clear sense of where the airline through smooth and good service will be an enabler for customers' personal meetings, private as well as for business purposes. In short, brilliant and modern interpretation that may well be on to a production company."

Many of the entries were of high creative standard, but marketing director Ulf Hermansson-Samell says SAS is unsure if the winning campaign idea will be used.

Personally I think it's questionable for companies to collect possibly brilliant marketing ideas for almost no money. The best three pitches were awarded €1000 each, and the winner recieved additional €2000.



Part of Joakim Werner's pitch

Enough is enough in the world of graphic software.

Back in the days when QuarkXPress still held the graphic design and advertising world in a firm grip, we were all complaining about the prices they charged for an update, or worse, buying the program anew. PageMaker had become obsolete, and we were all confined to Quark world, which gave us no option to choose a different software provider. On top of it all, the Quark service had hit rock bottom.

Then came InDesign, and eventually even the most adament of us Quark users slowly gave up and finally surrendered. It felt good to use three programs (InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop) made by the same company, Adobe. Programs that worked well together. So all should be fine and world peace and all of that?

Not really. Now running a monopoly in the world of graphic software, Adobe has increased their prices by packaging their software in new and clever ways (the Creative Suite, CS), and by gradually giving their brand a more exclusive and modern polish, we are made to believe we're paying a resonable price.

Just recently, The Creative Suite 4 was released, and Adobe charges the stunning €3 569 for the full version (InDesign itself costs €1 010). That's much more than I paid for my new MacBook Pro, including the extra memory I installed.

If you ask me, Adobe is slowly killing their brand, and their relations to the users, by charging a fortune for their software. Computer-literates already crack every new version that's released onto the market, and I'm convinced we'll see other brands taking market share within a few years.


Creative Suite 4 by Adobe.