👀Brief 01 example: The Perception of Brands
By Ewan Brammall
This article follows the theme of brand identy and how others perceive your brand through objects and how the things companies do can improve (or ruin) the perception of their brand. It covers products, movies and ad campaigns.
Spring and Leaf Suspension
Our journey begins look at the advancements in car suspension where the first patented suspension was by Obadiah Elliott in the 18th century for the spring leaf mechanism. Which was a leaf shape spring made of metal, or wood to avoid metal taxation. It is a very simple form of suspension but because of this some cars still use it to this day.
George Carwardine and the Anglepoise Lamp
The most notable alumni of the car suspension world was George Carwardine who was the founder and creator of Anglepoise. He came up with the idea while developing a spring arm lever, for use in automotive industry and didn't intend to create a lamp, but realised its potential as a desk based light and released the first model in 1932.
Luxo Jr and Pixar
Many people associate the Anglepoise lamp with Pixar and their first animated short. They were able to create this animation after they were brought from Lucas studios by Steve Jobs for $5 million in 1986. This was because George Lucas was forced to sell following cash problems after his 1984 divorce.
Renderman
While Pixar was making toy story they realised In order to render all 114,240 frames of the film they had to create their own software. This is called render man and is now the industry standard for 3d animation allowing other companies to create an identity as well as giving Pixar one of the most recognisable design styles in the industry.
Wall-e
One of their most notable films, and arguably their best, is Wall-e that tells the tale of over consumption and leading brands. The film shows the idea of our mass consumed objects becoming a nostalgic look back on the past such as sporks collected by Wall-e. In the film the Brand of BnL becomes more recognisable than nature itself and is the only thing the people know.
Ronald Mcdonald
This idea of brands taking over maybe happening right now because in a survey of over 7,000 people in six countries McDonalds and shell logos were identified by 88 per cent of people , compared with 54 per cent who recognised the Christian cross. Where Ronald McDonald came 2nd only to Santa in recognisability in us children
Ban of Ronald
Ronald has come under fire by US doctors for promoting child obesity. This promotion of obesity spreads into their distribution of 1.5 billion toys in their Happy Meals meaning they can give every child on earth 1 toy per year. Making McDonalds one of the biggest toy distributors in the world.
Ipads within McDonalds
In order to teach children about their food Tablets have been added into McDonalds across the UK to engage children. This was part of McDonald’s ‘Experience of the Future’ program and is the biggest investment and operational change in its 41-year history in the UK.
The Ipad
Education has been at the centre of apples ethos and the Ipad is no different, designed by Johnny Ive , who also was the design consultant for EVA in Wall-e. The Ipad accounts for 38.1 percent of tablet sales with samsung coming in second 15.2. Even with this domination apple still sued Samsung in 2011 for coping their tablet.
2001 A Space Oddesy
Samsung used the film 2001 a space odyssey as an example that apple didn't create the Ipad because one is used in the 1968 film. where a the main character can be seen facetiming his family back home as well as watching BBC News. This film set the bar for Sci Fi films while also predicting other technologies apple would use like ai for Siri.
The Shining
Innovative design can be seen in all of Kubrick's films such as the design of the carpet in the shining. Designed by David Hicks an english interior designer who used bold shapes and colours in all of his work. This carpet has become an icon of film and is referenced in many films including Toy Story 3.
External Shots of The Shining
The interiors of The Shining were all filmed in Elstree studios in the Uk because Kubrick had a fear of flying and filmed all his films in the Uk, including Full Metal Jacket creating the Vietnam landscape in Beckton Gas Works in London. The external shots The Shining were filmed in Oregon of Timberline Lodge at the base of Mt. Hood in Oregon.
Oregon
Oregon has a strong state identity with 2 main state icons, Filber the Hazelnut because Oregon produces 95% of US domestic hazelnut. This makes Oregon the only state with an official state nut. The other icon of Oregon is the Beaver and is on one side of the state flag (which is the only state flag with a different design on both sides of the flag, where Paraguay is the only country with double sided flag) as well as being an identity for many of their sports teams.
Boiler Man
Unlike oregon some places don’t have a strong mascot or identity like Boiler Man which is the official mascot for West Bromich Albion. Even though it is regarded as one of the worst mascots of all time it became somewhat of a viral hit spawning his own store and merchandise and being written about all over the world and increased the sales and knowledge of Ideal Boilers.
Burger King the Melt Down
Boiler Man shows the importance of a good marketing campaign like the Melt Down campaign by Burger King. Which allows kids to bring in a wide range of toys to be recycled and when they do they get a free meal. This is part of movement for burger king to abolish non biodegradable plastics by 2025. This campaign was also used as a slander campaign on McDonalds outing them on how many toys they give away.
Patagonia Needing to Reduce
While the melt down was put in place to increase sales, in 2011 Patagonia wanted to decrease sales. They ran a full page campaign asking people to not buy their clothes and to think about the environmental impact of each piece of their clothing. So rather than buying because you want to buy it, buy it because you need it. This ad was ran mainly in the New York Times.
New York Times App
The New York Times has been at the forefront of technology with the launch of their website in 1996 and in recent years has become the most visited newspaper site in the world and in the top ten most referenced websites on wikipedia. With their Ipad app coming out in 2010 accompanied with a game becoming the first new source to offer educational games for children, similar to the games that McDonalds have provided on their Ipads.
New York Times Freedom of the Press
As well as having a futuristic view on tech they are also for freedom of the press having fought for many freedom of speech cases for the US press. The New York times has praised the UK for having a long tradition of a free, inquisitive press. With the BBC as the front runner of freedom of press.
Anglepoise at the BBC
But the BBC can be behind on things such as in 1949 they introduced a manual for writers of comedy programmes called the green book which was to stop vulgarity and crass humour being aired. Which forbid jokes about toilets, chambermaids and even fig leaves. Part of this green books was the ban of angle poise lamps without the use of the main light because the director of the BBC believed that a writer under the light of one low wattage bulb produced ruder content and vulgar writing. This brings my Petcha Kutcha round to the beginning, hopefully you have learn't something new and enjoyed the journey.
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