logos and their non-latin adaptations

Translations with non-latin characters are strangely a pretty good way to test the strength of a brand. To adapt the logo, you need to re-interprate it using the codes of the visual, such as lines, curves, font style and color. If your visuals are very easy to identify, it makes the adaptation much easier.

In this post, you can see how well eight famous brands adapted when they had to switch to non-latin characters.

1. CNN arabic

The arabic version of the CNN logo is a great adaptation of the original news channel logo. The arabic characters have been stylized in the same way as the CNN letters, with some similar angles and curves too.

2. FedEx arabic

The arabic version of the FedEx logo is an interesting one. The biggest challenge in its creation was to recreate the famous white space arrow. The result is excellent, the colors already tell you which company it is even though you can’t read arabic, but the arrow was created at the almost same spot in the logo, obviously it has to point the other way. Graham Smith wrote an entire post on this logo.

3. Coca-Cola chinese

This was a tough one to adapt due to the calligraphic nature of the original logo. The squareness of chinese characters makes it hard to replicate the flow of the Coca-Cola logo. However, the designers did a great job to stylize the chinese characters using the same widths of lines as in the Coca-Cola logo. The main reminders of the english version are the two typographic swirls that are used in the top and bottom of the logo.

4. Hebrew Translations of Latin Logos

Unfortunatly not real life logos, but famous logos recreated in hebrew for a design exercise. The students of Oded Ezer did a great job visually translating these logos. To see more check out the post on Brand New.

5. WordPress arabic

A little off because the chosen WordPress icon is actual the “fauxgo“, a wrong version of the logo that is often used on the web. Nonetheless, it is interesting to see omar’s attempt at creating an arabic version of the WordPress logo. It looks quite good, but the character’s lines deserves to have bigger wide/narrow parts difference.

6. Sprite thai

The Sprite logo in thai is also quite easily recognizable, the type effects and shadows have been reproduced and the lemon icon is used almost the same way.

7. Carlsberg hebrew

I don’t read hebrew, but I find it very surprising how similar the Carlsberg logo looks to its latin characters counterpart. If this is readable in hebrew, I’d say that the designers did an amazing job re-creating the logo.

8. Subway russian

This one looks like it isn’t an official logo and the initiative of a russian subway owner, but it is interesting nonetheless. The arrow on the last letter looks ok and flows with the logo, but the first character just doesn’t look right with an arrow.

Maoam mixer

This is an excellent example of a seamless online-offline integration achieved with an accessible game mechanic.

Maoam uncovered a sticky situation surrounding the name of its chewy sweets. Children weren't choosing or asking for the brand as they were unsure how it should be pronounced. The Maoam brand has been around since the early 1930s, so rather than change the name, Maoam opted for a campaign that would allow children to recognise the word 'Maoam' and let them play with its unusual sound.

Kids could play the Maoam Mixer online via Facebook, or download it from the iTunes store for the iPad. The Maoam Mixer also took to the road on a tour of shopping centres around the country, bringing the app to life in a live competition environment.

The bright colours and cartoon graphics that appear on packets of Maoam sweets disguise the fact that children have been enjoying the fruit flavour chews since the 1930s. Although acquired by Haribo in the mid-1980s, the Maoam brand name was retained and is still a popular confectionary across Europe, especially in its native Germany.

Haribo become a popular and easily recognisable brand and in the UK is almost synonymous for any kind of gummy sweet, but Maoam has struggled to achieve the same connection with consumers.

What's in a name?

Insight revealed that children were choosing other sweet brands over Maoam as they were unsure of how to pronounce the name when asking for it. Rather than go through the time and expense of changing the brand name, Maoam decided to launch a campaign that would educate children how to pronounce the name, let them have fun with the word and raise the brand's social media profile.

Maoam: The game

Maoam Mixer, a game that helped children play with the brand name was designed and became the central pillar of a campaign that would combine online and real world activity. The game allowed children to create a track featuring different expressions of the word 'Maoam'. These could be enhanced with animal noises, percussion, musical stings and other sound effects. The app, hosted on Facebook, allowed users to create their own Maoam avatar, play the mixer and post their finished track on their Facebook profile.

Each week, ten mixes from the Facebook app were selected to win prizes. One winner took home an iPad2, with goody bags for the other nine.

A downloadable version of the app was made available through Apple's iTunes store.

Maoam roadshow

Two experiential hit squads travelled the country over a period of 10 weeks in branded 4x4 vehicles delivering samples in city centres, local attractions etc.  They delivered Maoam Giant Strawberry stripes along with relevant messaging, literature etc pointing the consumer to the Maoam Mixer app on Facebook.

This street-sampling ran in conjunction with the Maoam Mixer Experience Tour - a 6x6m stand that resembled a giant stereo that visited major shopping centres across the country.  This offered an extended brand experience and allowed consumers to try out the Maoam Mixer app on iPad stations via their Facebook pages, or they could try their skills on the competition stage where two wannabe DJs went head-to-head on Maoam Mixer touch-screens to create the most popular mix track. The stand was designed to be very bright, colourful and an engaging space for children. Experienced staff and an MC were on hand to make guide the brand experience.

Results

The Maoam sampling campaign was extended due to its early success. The sampling target was increased from 800,00 to 1,052,000 packs.

As of September 2011, the Maoam UK Facebook page has 432,594 fans, which represents an approximate 20% growth over the past six months.

The app was made available on the iTunes store 14/9/11.

Facebook records the Maoam Mixer as having nearly 12,000 monthly active users.

Social baker figures indicate that the Maoam Facebook page acquired more than 5,500 fans in the first two weeks of September 2011.

Links

Maoam Mixer Facebook App

Maoam Mixer on iTunes

BRAND:

Maoam

BRAND OWNER:

Haribo GmbH & Co. KG

CATEGORIES:

Confectionery/Snacks

Food

REGION:

United Kingdom

DATE:

July 2011 - ongoing

AGENCIES:

i2i Marketing

Crab Creative

A masterpiece in wine

Wine labels are similar to luxury brands in that as a group, they have been collectively resistant to marketing innovation, believing that the quality of the product is good enough marketing in itself. This interactive billboard and the wider art project it comes from is a beautiful idea supported by a clever use of SMS technology.

They don't drink a lot wine in Latin America. Drinkers in France and Italy happily quaff between 50-60 litres of the stuff annually per capita, which makes the Colombian average of 0.26 litres seem a particularly restrained amount.

But the local market for wine has been steadily increasing over the past decade, and Argentinean label Bodega Navarro Correas has been capitalising on this trend and celebrating the work of local artists with its 'Arte por dentro y por fuera' campaign. Translated as 'art inside and outside', this campaign is based on the idea that if Bodega Navarro Correas produces a masterpiece inside the bottle, its consumers can produce masterpieces on the outside.

This amazing billboard in Colombia is the latest expression of 'Arte por dentro y por fuera', and proves that you can create an arresting work of art with wine, robotics and a little bit of SMS technology.

BRAND: Bodega Navarro Correas

BRAND OWNER: Diageo

CATEGORY: Drinks (alcoholic)

REGION: Colombia

DATE: August - August 2011

AGENCIES: Alpha 245, Leo Burnett

4D in-store projection

Projection events have become increasingly popular as one-off stunts. This is the first example we've seen where the technology has been employed on such a scale, indoors and for a prolonged period, as part of a campaign

Ralph Lauren has been wearing its digital heart on its sleeve of late. Much of this is down to David Lauren (son of Ralph), who as SVP of advertising, marketing and corporate communications is widely recognised as the man who has helped bring the Ralph Lauren brand into the digital age.

Luxury brands were initially a bit slow to embrace digital. Decades of high quality glossy print and expensive live shows were ingrained on the luxury and fashion marketing consciousness. 


There was a superior attitude that the quality and equity of a brand spoke for itself, and luxury brands largely ignored the opportunities of digital, save for a few expensive looking flash based websites.

Fortunately this has begun to change, and when Drive Production’s giant horses came crashing through the walls of a German department store to help promote the new ‘Design Your Own’ collection from Ralph Lauren, the fashion brand’s mastery of digital became apparent.

When Ralph Lauren celebrated its '10 Years of Digital' anniversary with an extravagant 4D projection in New York and London in December, it was more a media event than a campaign. But when Ralph Lauren launched its 'Design Your Own' collection at Berlin's prestigious KaDeWe department store, the 8-minute film was re-configured for the indoor location.

'Design Your Own' is a new customisable range of polo shirts. Customers select their colour of shirt, and can then choose their favourite Ralph Lauren monogram, in whatever colour they choose - creating the perfect polo just for them.

The atrium of one of Europe's largest luxury department stores, the KaDeWe in Berlin, has been taken over for the entire month of August, with a bespoke 4D digital arts installation from Drive Productions running six times a day. This is the first time 4D mapping has been used inside a fashion store anywhere in the world.

Powerful architectural projection mapping technology takes the audience on a visual journey, creating the illusion that images of models, products and on occasion polo ponies are literally appearing beyond the walls and floating out into space and towards the audience. The experience featured a new ending, to incorporate the 'Design Your Own' collection,.

At each screening, the atrium at KaDeWe - a large, brightly lit space is turned into a cinematic presentation area in a matter of minutes with the use of a combination of motorised blinds, projection screens and heavy black velvet drapes. The projection area is equivalent in size to six double decker buses.

Drive's motion graphics team created the impression of a building projection on the clean, white interior architecture at KaDeWe by projecting 3D architectural geometry, onto and into which the content of the show had been mapped.

Ben Fender, company director of Drive Productions, commented: "Architectural 4d video mapping is that rare thing - a technique that still has the wow factor - both in terms of the creative and technological possibilities it gives brands and in terms of consumer reactions to it.

But the key factor to the success of this medium is the transformational content where It is now possible to create art installations that act as stand-alone pieces of global advertising- bringing together art technology and in this case 'design your own' fashion into one perfect package."

Ralph Lauren 4D Projection Mapping Show, Berlin

The Official Ralph Lauren 4D Experience - New York



The Official Ralph Lauren 4D Experience - London

BRAND:Ralph Lauren

BRAND OWNER: Ralph Lauren

REGION: Germany

DATE: August - August 2011

AGENCY:Drive

Jack & Jones Fitness Club

Using sex to sell isn't innovative, but the clever addition of a VIP club to persuade even casual viewers to submit personal information takes advantage of the viral potential of the site.

A campaign that uses overtly sexual imagery to drive consumer engagement. It isn't big, and it isn't clever, but this online fitness studio that promotes the spring/summer collection from men's fashion brand Jack & Jones provides hours of entertainment.

Jack & Jones is a brand for the fashion-conscious man about town. Positioned toward the premium end of the crowded high street category, it's important for a brand like J&J to keep men interested. Unsurprising then, that J&J decided the best course of action was to treat the boys to a pretty lady who would cavort about on their computer screens.

Visitors to the Jack & Jones Fitness studio first of all choose their look from the collections on offer. Based on the premise of teach the user some exercises that will help get them in the best shape to show off their new outfit, a helpful gym instructor shows the lucky online shopper some helpful moves. In her pants.

The premise is simple, slightly ridiculous but excellently realised digitally.

Visitors who want to see more can visit the VIP club, with the promise of more gym class demonstrations. A pass to the VIP club can be obtained by purchasing product or submitting some personal details to a mailing list.

Once in the VIP section, the Jack & Jones instructor offers classes in skipping, pole dancing and trampolining.  As an extra treat, the viewer can switch on options, such as slow-motion or water, to add to the experience.

An associated Jack & Jones Fitness Studio iPhone app replicates the experience for mobile, helping users to "get in shape and ready for action".

BRAND:Jack & Jones

BRAND OWNER:Bestseller A/S

CATEGORY:Accessories/Clothing/Footwear

REGION:DenmarkFinlandGermanyThe NetherlandsNorwaySwedenUnited Kingdom

DATE:June 2011 - ongoing

TicTac flashmob | Really, really bad breath

Hitler says!!!

Turkish cosmetics company Biomen has gone public with a new commercial for mens' shampoo, starring none other than Adolf Hitler.


"Beneath the images of the Nazi leader the firm typed the message 'If you are not wearing a woman’s dress, you should not use her shampoo either.'


The piece then concludes: 'Here it is, a real men’s shampoo, Biomen.'"

Secret Of Logos !

Lovestore: Bullet, Grenade, Gun

“Make love, not war.”

Advertising Agency: Looma, Kishinev, Moldova
Creative Director / Art Director: Sergey Prokopchuk
Account Manager: Samohvalova Xenia

HOWEVER... its another copycat.... shame!

MTV To promote the use of condom “Aids kills” – 2006
Agency : Ogilvy Lisbon (Portugal)

Instagram for brand communications

Webstagram is an Instagram Web Viewer.While Launched in Apple’s App Store in October 2010, Instagram is a photo sharing application famous for its easy to apply filters that magically improve the pictures we share with friends and followers.

Everybody-iphone users- is an instantaneous creative 

slide your iphone on, take a photo and use Instagram to turn your average snapshots into artistic image to share.

Brands using Instagram well — like Starbucks, Burberry, GE — are those who have also invested in a range of social platforms such as Tumblr and Pinterest. They understand these tools link together and have an up-skilled community management team needed to feed in daily content.

Hail in Riyadh . a tweet by an automotive brand.

A warm tweet sent to all Riyadh car owners to hide their cars because of hail.

This tweet is so smart it represents the ultimate brand engagement for positive reach and relevant conversation.