As a kid, I was always fascinated with sports team logos. For reasons beyond my explanation, I always got excited when a team would unveil a new logo or a new uniform. This sickness continues to this day, but it has definitely evolved into something much bigger as I’ve become an adult, especially with the profession that I’ve chosen. I guess it was a sign of what was to come for me in my adulthood. It only made sense that a child obsessed with the way his favorite team brands itself would grow up to work in the marketing field. Today, I’m 26 years old and I still look forward to the unveiling of a team’s new logo just as I did when I was 12, but these days it’s not just sports logos that intrigue me as my fascination has grown to encompass all types of branding. Okay, after reading what I just typed I sound a little obsessive and a lot like a self proclaimed expert. Let me be the first to say that is something that I’m not, and that I will never claim to be. We have professionals that work in the advertising world and this is their jobs. I just admire what they do. Having said this, I do think it helps me with my job though and have to be somewhat grateful for it, even if this curse is a little ridiculous.
The reason for me giving you that brief glimpse into this brain of mine was to set up one topic that I plan to write about. As my roommate Jared knows, as well as many of my close friends know, I tend to pay a little too close attention to most types of advertising. I blame a LOT of this on my boss, but I definitely don’t see it as anything negative. For instance, why can’t I drive down a highway without looking at EVERY single billboard? I’ve been taught that outdated signage is something that should have been added to the Ten Commandments. “Thou shall not have outdated signage” was definitely left out of the good book. Anyways, when I look at billboards, I’m pretty much just looking to see if they’ve passed their expected livelihood. And when I see one that’s still up later than it should be, I can’t help but to point it out. For anyone in the car with me when this happens, I do apologize.
For example, on East bound I-44, near Highway 75 there is STILL a board for the new Best Buy location opening at Tulsa Hills in June. Yes, June of 2008. Pretty soon people are going to start thinking that there’s a second store opening up as we’re now in 2009. Just think of the wasted money by still having that board up! I’m guessing at around a total of $10,000. At least we aren’t in a recession or anything.
Now, onto the logo presented at the top of this article. Formally spelled "Wal-Mart", now "Walmart" with a new “burst” next to it instead of a star in the middle of the two words. When I first saw this logo I looked at it closely. I think I looked at it a little too closely. I then thought, “Wow, that’s genius!” To me, the starburst isn’t just a starburst. It’s a W and an M. The three lines at the top make the W and the three lines at the bottom make the M. I was certain that this was the intent of this corporate giant. I expressed my idea to a few friends and coworkers and everyone thought that it was absurd idea. So I researched this new logo online. There are many hypotheses about the logo, including the WM concept, but I’m unable to find a clear cut answer. What do you think? Maybe I’m giving them too much credit…
Well that’s it for my initial post. Thanks for listening to my nonsense. For those of you in the creative world, I would definitely appreciate your input and the same from anyone else that would like to chime in. Also, for any of you out there that are interested in sports uniforms and logos, I highly reccommend that you read uniwatchblog.com It's good stuff. Until next time….
The reason for me giving you that brief glimpse into this brain of mine was to set up one topic that I plan to write about. As my roommate Jared knows, as well as many of my close friends know, I tend to pay a little too close attention to most types of advertising. I blame a LOT of this on my boss, but I definitely don’t see it as anything negative. For instance, why can’t I drive down a highway without looking at EVERY single billboard? I’ve been taught that outdated signage is something that should have been added to the Ten Commandments. “Thou shall not have outdated signage” was definitely left out of the good book. Anyways, when I look at billboards, I’m pretty much just looking to see if they’ve passed their expected livelihood. And when I see one that’s still up later than it should be, I can’t help but to point it out. For anyone in the car with me when this happens, I do apologize.
For example, on East bound I-44, near Highway 75 there is STILL a board for the new Best Buy location opening at Tulsa Hills in June. Yes, June of 2008. Pretty soon people are going to start thinking that there’s a second store opening up as we’re now in 2009. Just think of the wasted money by still having that board up! I’m guessing at around a total of $10,000. At least we aren’t in a recession or anything.
Now, onto the logo presented at the top of this article. Formally spelled "Wal-Mart", now "Walmart" with a new “burst” next to it instead of a star in the middle of the two words. When I first saw this logo I looked at it closely. I think I looked at it a little too closely. I then thought, “Wow, that’s genius!” To me, the starburst isn’t just a starburst. It’s a W and an M. The three lines at the top make the W and the three lines at the bottom make the M. I was certain that this was the intent of this corporate giant. I expressed my idea to a few friends and coworkers and everyone thought that it was absurd idea. So I researched this new logo online. There are many hypotheses about the logo, including the WM concept, but I’m unable to find a clear cut answer. What do you think? Maybe I’m giving them too much credit…
Well that’s it for my initial post. Thanks for listening to my nonsense. For those of you in the creative world, I would definitely appreciate your input and the same from anyone else that would like to chime in. Also, for any of you out there that are interested in sports uniforms and logos, I highly reccommend that you read uniwatchblog.com It's good stuff. Until next time….
2 comments:
Interesting observation. I didn't see the "WM" in the burst, but I do like the new logo better. The lighter shade of blue seems more current.
I also think they made a good move in their switch from the ancient "Watch for falling prices" to "Save money. Live Better". It is totally following suit with other hot slogans (two brief statements seems to be all the craze), but it does give a better impression and focuses on the benefit to consumers as opposed to their gargantuan strength in beggaring their suppliers.
Yeah, their new look is definitely an improvement and says "green" all over it. I still don't get why they didn't open that new WM in Sapulpa with this logo since that's the objective that particular location is going for as well as all other future stores. Changing a logo should be done gradually but they don't seem to be in any hurry at all to update the signage on the rest of their locations either. The logo was introduced at least six months ago and every store I see is still sporting the two word star logo as their main sign.
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