Look at the Letters

by Richard Earle
Regis Group Affiliqte


As the last of our Logo posts, we’re examining two cases where a clever designer discovered that the Initial letters of the corporate name could be used to convey a special message about the brand, in these two cases, the bottom line is fun, and the consumer can have some fun recognizing what was done.

Baskin-Robbins, the ice cream chain, prides itself on the number of flavors it offers, 31 in all. In fact they used to display the number with an arc above it in their logo. In re-designing the logo, it was discovered that thee “3” and ”1” could be an integral part  of the “B” and “R” and the consumer is left to discover that fact, and hopefully have some fun doing it,

The Milwaukee Brewers, at the time of their 1982 AL Championship had a very clever, and fun-to-figure-out logo, which turned the “m” and the “b” into a classic fielder’s mitt.

Both brands promise fun, and their logo “aura” captures that! 

Emma helps

By Richard Earle
Regis Group Affiliate

If you get our newsletter, you may have noticed the name “Emma” at the bottom. No, that’s not someone in our office. It’s the corporate name of our e-mail distributer. Emma’s the new kid on the block, a group that already contains the longer-established Patron Mail and Constant Contact. I first noticed Emma on a newsletter from a designer I really respect, and outside of the memorable name (derived, I suppose from “E-mail”) I found some tasteful templates, and on the test drive, a remarkably user-friendly system (you lay it out right on the template with standard word-processing techniques.)

Emma gives complete data about who opened your newsletter and when, who clicked through your links, and to where. You can even compare it to last month, or one from a year ago. Their service representative are exceptionally knowledgeable and helpful, and they send out pretty good newsletter themselves!

It is the most recent edition that is the basis for this post. An embarrassed user in Charlotte wrote: 

“Dear Emma,  I just said something that I didn't mean to say. And I said it in an email to my entire audience list. If I were at a dinner party right now, I would just make an exaggerated shrugging motion and smile bashfully. But this is my business we're talking about. What should I do?”

Emma’s response: "A prompt correction and apology lets you show a nice flicker of personality. If you do it with a touch of class and maybe even a little humor, your apology can even strengthen the bond between you and your subscribers.

Some other points:
   
Be prompt. You'll probably see one of the highest spikes in activity in the two hours immediately after you send your campaign. The sooner you send a correction, the more likely these early respondents are to connect you with your correction rather than your error.
   
Be specific. You don't always have to craft a completely new message to address a mistake -- sometimes it's better to correct your original content and send it out again. If you send a revised version of your original message, be clear about the correction you're making, starting with the subject line. If your audience sees "correction" there, they'll probably skip the first message and go directly to the follow-up.

Remember, email is one of the more personal communication channels available to you, and if someone has invited you to share information with them regularly, they’re likely to be forgiving of the occasional mistake. A prompt correction and apology will go a long way toward showing your customers the human side of your business. And who knows, it might even get you invited to one of their dinner parties."

So, Emma deserves a tip of our hat!


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FEDEX Logo: Straight ahead

By Richard Earle,
Regis Group Affiliate

I remember clearly the campaign tag line when Federal Express first put large dollars behind a national advertising campaign: “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight!” The implication was, of course, that those other guys (especially those in the brown uniforms) couldn’t be trusted to get it there in the morning.

It was created at Amiratti-Puris, at about the time that my friend Paula Green wrote the seminal line for Avis at Doyle, Dane and Bernbach “We’re number two. So we try harder!” This was the start of the use of plain language in tag lines, that is still with us today, as an important part of Branding. And if you’re lucky enough to have an inspired designer as well, as did Federal Express when they shortened their name to FEDEX, then you’re way ahead.

Their delivery service is as straight as an arrow, as I have found the many times when my package has indeed arrived at my client’s door at nine am as promised, so a brilliant designer implanted an arrow in their logo.

Don’t see it?  Look carefully at the “E” and “X”, and you’ll see that they create an arrow out of the white background. Fortunately, this is a company that lives up to their excellent branding, and for that, they get a well-deserved tip of our hat!

Aother Tip of the Hat

by Marc Chinoy President, The Regis Group

A big tip of the hat to State Farm Insurance, and to the “exceeds all
expectations” performance from the staff of the Kemper G. Collins Agency
in Alexandria, Virginia. Once again, there is zero working relation
between Kemper’s team and The Regis Group team other than more than
three decades of extraordinary support to my personal auto and
home-owner coverage needs. At a time when many key industries have
shifted critical elements of support out of our communities and
frequently either on-line or off-shore, it is nice to be able to lean
back when circumstances are toughest and rely on both being known and
having my working preferences understood by individuals with names who
clearly care. Single events may not be a measure of true value, but
consistency of effort over time is hard to ignore. (And yes this is
triggered by their response to a sudden failure of a condensation relief
line in my home A/C system during some of the hottest weather on record
that brought down a piece of ceiling... what a mess!). This is NOT to
say that I am paying some kind of special premium, but that those who
'shop around' for discounts in this critical area, really need to
rethink their priorities.When it comes to insurance, the final
determinant is NOT supposed to be who has the very lowest price, but who
will be there when we need them the most and are at our most vulnerable.

Amazon.com: Great service and product range. And it’s all in the Logo!

By Richard Earle,
Regis Affiliate


In any branding identity package you will often find a logo and a simple tag line. The “aura” is usually created by a thoughtfully constructed tag line, and the color palette and typeface selection of the logo. However, many large corporate entities have cleverly buried other clues in their logo that are not evident at first glance. Discovering them can be fun, and can enhance the “bonding” experience that is the goal of any branding “aura.”

Amazon.com is one of those. I have always found them willing to go the extra mile in the service area, whether as a consumer (they keep careful records of the things I ordered and notify me by email when similar items become available) or as an author (their “look inside” feature approximates what you’d do with a book you’d pick up in the bookstore.) They also quickly posted  a  bit of praise from Michael Moore I sent them (that my publisher had omitted as “too controversial.”) I am also always dazzled by the depth of their stock, in all categories.

And it’s all expressed in their logo. Most people get the “smile” graphic underlining part of the type, and hopefully they connect that with the exceptional service they provide. But there’s another symbol buried here. Note the “wrinkle” at the right end of the smile. This can also be read as the end of an arrow, connecting the “a” and “z” of the name, and carries the message: “We have whatever you’re looking for, from a to z.”