Thompson Brand Partners

Holiday Inn

I've noticed that the global hotel chain Holiday Inn has recently rebranded.

Made famous by the Bing Crosby movie that originally contained the song White Christmas, this is a US brand with real longevity and I would expect has a lot of brand equity with the American public. Having travelled in the states, it certainly is a ubiquitous brand that appears at the roadside of every town and city wherever you are.

In the past few years, it has spread its wings into Europe and built a solid mid range chain that trades on the US equity quite heavily in my opinion. They've also expanded the offer with the brand extension 'Express' and I've stayed in these places and they're just fine.

It's certainly a crowded old marketplace in the hospitality sector with the big chains vying for custom in very difficult (or 'challenging' as they'd say) market conditions. 

Interesting, then, to see that Holiday Inn chose right now to launch a new brand. I'm a big fan of bold, confident brand behaviour right at the time when a lot of your competitors and hunkering down, riding out the storm. 

When I first read about the rebrand I thought:  yes, good move, time for a refresh, evolve the timeless brand on to meet the needs of a new market and a different world. Then I saw the logo. 

Ah. 

Okay, It's modern, slick, uses the previous brand colour (albeit brightened up) and has some distant visual cues from the previous iteration. It didn't ring true for me - it felt definitely like we'd lost the baby with the bathwater. No doubt they'd done their homework and the endless rounds of qualitative and quantitative research told them that now was the time for a more radical brand change. Who am I to argue? We've been in that situation many times. But instinctively it just doesn't feel right. This is a brand with real heritage that seems to have been overlooked and isn't part of the brand any more. And that's a shame.

See what you think - here's the previous brand in a few iterations:

And of course, this is the genealogy of the brand:

We can see over the years that they've evolved and developed the brand to meet the needs of a changing market. But there's something cool about taking a brand's heritage and moving it on.

Here's the new boy:

Maybe I'm making a big fuss about something that's not really there. I'd be interested to see what other people think. Of course, it will all be in the wider visual identity as a brand is always more than just the logo. But when you see a hotel logo on a roadside, it IS the brand and the first thing you see when arriving at the hotel. 

Holiday Inn have ditched their distinctive script type for a bland, me-too, modern affair that is italicised in a nod to the old brand and the big H in scripty style gives some clues, but that's it. It's a shrug of shoulders moment.

One final thought. 

When the classic UPS brand was 'evolved' a few years ago, it caused a huge fuss in the brand world, not least because the original logo was created by famous designer Paul Rand in 1961. When Futurebarnd unveiled the new brand it had controversially banished one of the most distinctive elements of the brand, the bow-tied parcel. 

In theory they had dramatically altered one of the world's most recognisable brands, but looking at it more closely (and with the benefit of hindsight, admittedly) the newly rendered brand feels like a logical step forward. It feels like it's still in the spirit of the brand - solid, credible, modern.

Village Green - UnFamily Portraits

For those of you who don't know tomorrow is Village Green, a one day arts festival in Chalkwell Park, Southend on Sea. the event is being hosted by Metal as part of the launch of their newly renovated low carbon, artist's residency space that sits in the centre of the park. (Ian went to the launch last night, the space is really impressive.)

As well as being part of the Thompson Team (if you've ever called us, you will have probably spoken to me!) I am also a practicing artist who is lucky enough to be taking part in Village Green. I will be presenting an interactive installation titled UnFamily portraits, inviting visitors to have a professional family portrait taken within a set carefully constructed to appear as living room. However, instead of being pictured with their actual family the subjects must be complete strangers asked to participate at random.

It will not be blood relations that create a bond within the photograph. The only link they will have will be collective memory through a shared experience of being part of a fabricated personal history. The positioning, lighting and set will be what implies what we view as 'family'.

It should be a great day out, including other acts such as Billy Bragg's Big Busk, The Blockheads, Camera Obscura and much more. I leave for Southend in exactly 2 hours, wish me luck! Keep an eye out for photos from the day coming soon...

Hayley

Metal

To coincide with the opening of their new HQ, we've just finished a raft of lovely new stuff for the super cool arts organisation Metal. 

They're moving into Chalkwell Hall in Essex (in fact it's the opening party tonight) and they asked us to help celebrate this event with a whole host of supporting printed materials using the new identity we'd put together for them.

We're particularly pleased with the results, hope you agree.

Kev.

You may think this is a bit of joke, but I joke not. Kevin Costner, my hero, has release an album and it's brilliant. Some my think he's following in the footsteps of Bruce Willis with a album when his acting days are drying up, but I think he's found another talent that the world needs to absorb. He's set his sights high, as did Trace Adkins, with some heavy country rock that puts Brucey Sprungsteen in his place. Download Kevin Costner and Modern West - Untold Truths now, and be happier. Fact.

Ted.

Nice, but where's the river?

There's been a lot of talk about the recently re-designed London Underground tube map. It's been causing a lot of fuss in the mainstream press and designers and communication professionals have all been putting their two penneth in.

The new one definitely looks a lot cleaner and it's easier to see the stations without the pricing zones (I notice on the excellent iphone app, London Underground there are no zones either) but as a non-London dweller, I do find the zones helpful when working out what kind of cost is incurred when I'm not using the Oyster card. But I can live with that. There has been talk of cheekily sneaking prices up now the zones have gone, but surely not?!

Now for the big controversy - the Thames has gone. Now, I am generally in favour of clean and clarity over fussiness and there has been some nice subtle modifications to the map, but I can't see the logic of losing the river. I realise that it's largely an irrelevance when travelling underground, but I find it a useful navigation tool for my cack handed travels in London. If I have a rough idea if a place is North or South of the river, I'm pretty much OK and 9 times out of 10, I'll use the tube map to get my bearings. Now I'm scuppered (but it's still on the iphone app - hah). I just can't see the logic.

What would Harry Beck (the original designer of the map) think? I think he'd be saying: No.No.No.

Have a look and let me know what you think...

Before

After

The hierarchy of digital distractions

Those of you Twittering, blogging and generally keeping up with the digital Jones' will find a deep truth in the graphic below. I guess the very fact that I found it and decided to Tweet and then blog it validates its accuracy.

It came courtesy of the very cool and highly instructional Information is everything

Leeds - the UK's first city of culture?

I was asked by The Drum to put the case for Leeds being appointed the UK's first city of culture. 

They were asking creative businesses from all over the UK (outside of London) to put the case for their cities to be the UK's very first national city of culture as part of a new government initiative. 

I submitted the piece I wrote to a cultural blog and it certainly stirred up a bit of a hornets nest in Leeds with opinion definitely divided as to whether it was a genuine aspiration for the city to bid for this or a complete and utter pipedream. The controversy rages on at The Culture Vulture

It's also in the latest edition of The Drum see if you think Leeds can stand up to the other cities.

Here's the article in full below...

Leeds. The UK’s first city of culture?

Leeds would be a controversial choice for the UK’s first City of Culture. No question. It would raise more than a few eyebrows and there would be a lot of teeth gnashing in larger, more prominent cities (naming no names).

But I believe it would be the right choice.

There’s something about the small scale of the city and the proximity of urban to rural that inspires ideas. Unlike much larger cities, the compact nature of Leeds acts as a cultural Petrie dish and cultivates ideas.

Leeds epitomises the can do attitude of the North and this permeates all aspects of the city, including its cultural output. Like many cities in the North, Leeds has been transformed in the past ten years into a truly sophisticated city with all the trappings of a modern city underpinned by the unique Leeds attitude: a combination of sheer bloody mindedness and creativity.

Of course, many cities would claim they could deliver this – but Leeds has plenty of examples of this in action. If I was putting together the Leeds bid for UK City of Culture, I’d be lifting the lid on the city’s diverse cultural scene and shining the spotlight on some of the most creative and inspiring work in the UK.

Design in Leeds has a rich heritage and to this day, the design scene in the city is as strong as ever, constantly changing and diversifying. From successful international design companies like Elmwood to design collectives like Nous Vous, Leeds has it all. Our reputation as grounded but highly creative rightly attracts talent and clients from all over the UK.

The digital sector in Leeds is growing apace with some of the most innovative thinkers in the country plying their trade in the city. At the very cutting edge of digital inspiration are digital agencies like Numiko, madebypi and fuse8, that’s just the tip of the digital iceberg.

Our vibrant creative industries are a vital component in the city’s success and unlike other cities, they are valued and significant contributor to the growth of the city.

There’s also a groundswell of highly creative art and cultural fusion happening in the city right now with artists, photographers, sculptors, writers, film makers all collaborating on projects and engaging with the wider population. It’s these collaborations that are building a real sense of cultural boldness.

Musically, Leeds has made its mark too with arguably the UK’s most exciting and vibrant music scenes as the Guardian said “forget Manchester, Liverpool or Sheffield, Leeds has the most happening music scene outside of the capital” Enough said.

Of course, Leeds has always been internationally renowned for its artistic heritage and is home to Opera North, Northern Ballet Theatre, The Northern School of Contemporary Dance, West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Henry Moore Institute – all cultural powerhouses, part of one of the strongest and most influential arts scenes in the UK.

Alongside the usual things many cities do which allow them to lay claim to being a cultural centre (film festivals, music festivals, art/literary stuff), I think it's also the influence of technology that's making things so interesting round here right now. In Leeds, we're not just doing cultural things; we're finding new ways of doing cultural things. The various 'camps' that happen in the city (Barcamp, Photocamp, etc) are blurring the lines of creativity in a cultural, 'arty' sense, and creativity in the industrious, innovation sense.

Leeds has a long history of industrial innovation that has improved our cultural lives, and that spirit certainly thrives today. Temple Works - once a socially-conscious, industrial building is now transforming into a colossal art space, which will attract national and international attention.

Leeds isn’t perfect – and no city is. Ultimately creative people thrive on the mash up that is the modern city – the mess, the humanity, the contradiction. We need to feel we’re at the heart of something vital. And what we also crave is the escape from this that comes from being close to nature and of course Leeds delivers this – in spades.

 

Thanks to Richard Moran for the cool skyline shot of Leeds. 

 

 

 

 

 

Studio update

Here's a sneak peek at the first stages of building the next national media museum campaign. Only lost one finger so far so we're looking good! Watch this space for the final thing!

Brand workshop, Birmingham

After a mental few weeks which has seen the entire team in far flung places - Friday saw us running a brand workshop and conduction information gathering interviews in sunny Birmingham.

When we start every brand project, we spend a lot of time getting to know the client and getting under the skin of the organisation is crucial to successful engagement and always delivers lots of insights that help us make sure that the creative work is on track from the very beginning.

We're just starting a project for the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA to you or I) and the initial sessions went very well, which always bodes well for the rest of the process.