If you haven’t heard already, Nokia is dialing down on its position as a mobile phone manufacturer. To mark its pivot, the company has adopted a dramatic new logo, its first brand identity transformation in decades.
The Finnish tech firm says the fresh wordmark—an abstract emblem with negative space at the front, middle, and tail—represents a more “energized” and “dynamic” Nokia. The overhaul includes an expanded color palette that goes spectrums beyond the singular ‘Yale blue’.
Well, this “dynamic” look has energized the people too, somewhat. Consumers always have something to say when a company introduces a new logo, and Nokia’s revamp is no different.
A stream of jokes on social media insinuates that it’s a good thing Nokia has been around since 1865, because people would have a hard time deciphering its name had it been new.
DID YOU KNOW: the new Nokia logo pays tribute to its mobile phone heritage by stylizing the “N” into a trendline graph of Nokia’s market share in phones pic.twitter.com/M2uI3P9iG2
The Czech Republic’s new name rolls off the tongue more easily. It now wants to be known as Czechia, though it will still keep the longer form for various scenarios.
To be clear, the terms ‘Czechia’ and ‘Czech Republic’ have been in use interchangeably in an official capacity since 2016. However, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the nation will henceforth only use the Czech Republic designation for formal contexts, such as on official government documents, embassy relations, and legal correspondence.
Meanwhile, Czechia will from now on be the preferred name for more general and casual settings. You’ll see it across literary works, newspapers, advertising signs, and in instances where the country is being represented in the fields of culture, sports, and science. International committees or politicians might even choose this name to appear more legible “and less distant” on official marketing and meeting collaterals.
In line with the transition, the Czech Tourism Board has rebranded to become VisitCzechia. Its new, more readable logo illustrates why the nation is putting so much weight on a name change.
Czechia’s Olympic team has already gone ahead to identify itself as ‘Czechia’, printing the shorter moniker across jerseys and merchandise.
Uber Eats has enlisted Kris and Kendall Jenner to help launch the brand’s new positioning as it transitions away from its long-running ‘Tonight I’ll be eating positioning”.
The delivery platform, which launched in Australia in 2016, has enlisted the Jenners, along with a handful of Aussie celebrities, to showcase the brand’s expanded delivery offering, which now includes food, groceries, alcohol and more.
The new brand platform ‘Get almost almost anything’ aims to highlight the expanded service while acknowledging that Uber Eats still can’t deliver some things.
The campaign, which Special Group created in collaboration with Hello Social and MediaCom, features the brand’s trademark mix of celebrities employing self-deprecating humour.
Andy Morley, director of marketing at Uber ANZ, said: “This year we will continue to deepen our get “anything” offering across Uber Eats – building on our already rich range of restaurants, greengrocers, supermarkets, fishmongers, butchers, florists, to add even more retail items. While takeaway food will remain a hallmark, as our selection deepens and evolves we believe it’s time for a new brand platform to capture that. Get almost, almost anything absolutely does that job for us.”
Julian Schreiber, CCO & Partner of Special, said, ‘Being confident enough to discuss what you can’t do is a great way to create entertaining cut through about what you can do, particularly when it’s a huge new diverse offering. It delivers the message but also makes fun of all the over promises that marketing is constantly guilty of.”
The campaign comes as Australia’s food and grocery delivery market undergoes significant changes as it matures. Last year, British-owned delivery giant, Deliveroo, pulled out of the Australian market after six years in operation, citing “challenging economic conditions”. Meanwhile, food delivery service VOLY also withdrew from the market in November, blaming economic uncertainty.
The high concentration of big players in the Australian market has created a competitive landscape. Figures from last year revealed Uber Eats remained the market leader with around 53% market share, ahead of rival Menulog at 20%. Deliveroo held about 12% share, which is believed to have been shared among rivals, including Door Dash and HungryPanda.
Research from Roy Morgan revealed over 7 million Australians use food delivery services, which equates to almost one-third (33.4%) of the population aged 14-plus; this has increased from 3.6 million in 2020. According to the same research, Uber Eats is used by 3.5 million Australians, up from 2.3 million in 2020, confirming its position as the clear market leader.
It’s a position this latest campaign aims to solidify as the brand showcases its ability to deliver more than takeaway meals.
M&M’s is launching woke ‘all-female’ packs to celebrate female empowerment and attempt to shake things up in a continued shift toward progressive branding.
Mars, M&M’s parent company, debuted the feminist candy wrappers earlier this week, exclusively featuring the company’s three female mascots: green, brown and the newly-introduced purple.
The all-female package – upside down, to show how powerful women have ‘flipped the status quo’ – will be the first time the brown and green M&Ms have been featured together since a viral tweet from 2015 sparked rumors they were a lesbian couple.
The tweet contained a picture of the two characters holding hands on the beach, posted just two days after the Supreme Court effectively legalized gay marriage.
In fact, a search for the two characters in the notorious fan fiction site Archive Of Our Own produces 11 different results. The green M&M supposedly posted the tweet herself, writing: ‘It’s rare Ms. Brown and I get to spend time together without some colorful characters barging in.’
Mars has shifted the M&M’s brand in recent years multiple times in attempts to appear more progressive, with new CEO Poul Weihrauch looking to continue the trend.
They debuted ‘Purple’ – the first ever female peanut M&M spokescandy, who has been designed to represent acceptance and inclusivity and is ‘quirky, confident and authentic’.
More than 10 million fans voted to add the color to the confectionary’s current rainbow in May, beating aqua and pink.
Purple’s arrival was announced with ‘I’m Just Gonna Be Me,’ a new promotional song and music video, which launched on Tuesday.
Jane Hwang, global VP at Mars Wrigley said: ‘There is so much about our new spokescandy that people can relate to and appreciate, including her willingness to embrace her true self – our new character reminds us to celebrate what makes us unique.’
Purple joins the legendary cast of M&M’s characters, who were given a refresh with updated looks and more nuanced personalities back in January.
The iconic M&M characters – ubiquitous in commercials for the chocolate candies for decades – are getting a makeover that the company claimed will fit them in a ‘more dynamic, progressive world.’
The changes, which took effect immediately, gives the characters a more modern look to emphasize characters’ ‘personalities.’
The biggest changes appear to be to the two female M&M’s, the green and brown ones.
Mars, the maker of the candies, has been criticized in the past for making the green M&M too sexy, and either pushing a rivalry or a possible flirtation with the brown M&M.
The solution appears to be the green M&M losing her stiletto boots in favor of sneakers and the brown M&M wearing slightly lower heels than before to what Mars spokespersons called a ‘professional height.’
Mars wants the green M&M to be ‘better represented to reflect confidence and empowerment, as a strong female, and known for much more than her boots.’
As far as the relationship between the green and brown M&M’s, it will be based on the two ‘together throwing shine and not shade,’ as a reaction to how the two have been at odds at times in promotional material.
Each M&M has been given a Q&A to explain their new characters on the candy’s website, in which the brown M&M claims to be ‘not bossy, just the boss.’
Mars is also doubling down on the anxious orange M&M, whom the company believes is ‘one of the most relatable characters with Gen-Z, the most anxious generation.’
The orange M&M previously wore his shoes untied, but now will have them tied in an effort to represent his cautious nature, according to Mars.
The red M&M – voiced by cartoon icon Billy West in commercials and often vacillating between leader and bully toward the other M&M’s – will be adjusted to be more kind to his fellow characters.
The yellow M&M, classically dim-witted, appears to remain so. He once was quoted saying that the first thing he would do if today was his last day ever is ‘wake up.’
Mars hopes these changes will show the importance of ‘self-expression and power of community.’
Fashionistas might want to take a bite out of the yummiest item to have come out of Spring/Summer 2023 catwalks: a Lay’s potato chip bag.
The look was first teased by Balenciaga’s creative director Demna Gvasalia—often known simply as Demna—in June, when he attended Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts’ graduate fashion show toting a pack of Lay’s Original Wavy Potato Chips. The appearance fueled tittle-tattle about whether a snack-themed purse was in the works.
Well, before the idea got stale, the luxury house finally confirmed the moreish it-bag during its muddied presentation at Paris Fashion Week, where a couple of models were seen clutching Lay’s-branded calfskin bags and looking like ultimate snacks.
It appears that Balenciaga’s snack ‘bags’ will arrive in a few “flavors,” including classic, lime, and salt and vinegar. Closeup visuals shared by high-fashion curator Lil Jupiter on Instagram reveal that “Balenciaga Paris” are also branded on the clutches.
The bag retains a crinkled silhouette, scrunching in the middle as if perpetually being held in someone’s hand.
It’s too early for pricing details to be out, but you just know it’s going to be worth multiple crates of snacks. The perk is that you can fill this clutch with as many potato chips as you want. This won’t be one of those bags that comes with 50% air.
As mourning for the late Queen Elizabeth II has come to a close, King Charles III—the oldest person to take over the British throne—has chosen the monogram to represent his reign.
The new royal cipher features the initial ‘C’, for Charles, entwined with the letter ‘R’ for Rex, Latin for king. The Roman numeral III sits inside the latter, and the British Crown floats atop the visual identity.
It was designed by the College of Arms, made up of members of the Royal Household, and takes the place of Queen Elizabeth II’s longstanding ‘E II R’ symbol (‘R’ here denoting Regina, or queen). An alternative version in Scotland will replace the top with the Scottish Crown.
Charles himself has been the patron of numerous art and design efforts. Last year, as the Prince of Wales, he founded the Terra Carta design lab with former Apple design chief Jony Ive through London’s Royal College of Art (RCA). King Charles was appointed the Royal Patron of the National Gallery in London back in 2016, and he presented nearly 80 of his watercolor landscape paintings for the first time earlier this year.
King Charles III’s monogram first went into use in the Buckingham Palace post room on Tuesday, franking letters from the Royal Households for the first time. Following that, it will be decked across public buildings, uniforms, post boxes, and official stationery.
“The decision to replace [ciphers] will be at the discretion of individual [organizations], and the process will be gradual,” elaborates Buckingham Palace in a statement.
A new monarch means banknotes, coins, and stamps will have to be redesigned too.
These sneakers aren’t just made for walking — they have actual beer in them, and even come with a bottle opener.
Heineken Silver, the brand’s latest easy-to-drink brew, is launching a pair of sneakers that are kitted out with statement-making features.
Known as Heinekicks, these sneakers have discreetly built into the tongue a cool removable metal bottle opener. Yup, it’ll come in handy when you urgently need to crack open a bottle of beer, and don’t want to keep a spare bottle opener in, say, your pocket or your bag.
The Heinekicks’ most unique feature, though, is a see-through cushioned sole that has been injected with Heineken Silver beer, touted as the first of its kind in the world. After all, why walk on terra firma when you can walk on beer?
You may not be able to drink the beer from your shoes (obviously), but according to Heineken, “the soles provide the wearer with an unexpectedly smooth and unique sensation when on the go”.
To find out if that really is the case, you’ll need to be one of the lucky few in Singapore to get your paws on these sneakers. But it won’t be an easy feet, sorry, we mean, feat. There are only 32 pairs of Heinekicks in the world, and only seven will be made available in Singapore in the fourth quarter of the year.
Yahoo Finance Live checks out Coca-Cola’s decision to discontinue Sprite’s signature green plastic bottle on cut down on its environmental footprint.
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
DAVE BRIGGS: All right, before we go, a little food news roundup. Some headlines out there. Soft drink Sprite is retiring its classic green plastic bottles in favor of a clear plastic bottle starting August 1. Coca-Cola announcing the change Wednesday and pinned it on an effort to become more environmentally responsible. The clear plastic is more easily recycled and made into new bottles. So going green by ditching green, Seana. Does it bother you?
SEANA SMITH: It bothers me a little, but I think it’s something that I’ll be able to get over. I’m so used to seeing those green bottles. I don’t think I’m as opinionated about this as maybe our EP, Val, was this morning. She used the word– she was like, that’s disgusting. I’m never drinking Sprite again. So I don’t think I’m necessarily that far, but Rachelle, what about you?
RACHELLE AKUFFO: I mean, I do get it that yes, it does make it easy to just have the clear bottles and recycle them. But it’s like, these are the things that you cherished and grew up with. So it’s sad to see them go. But I mean, I guess at least, it’s for good reason, you know.
DAVE BRIGGS: Listen.
RACHELLE AKUFFO: I can’t really complain.
DAVE BRIGGS: Recycling plastic bottles is one of the greatest crises our world faces, so anything that helps curb that a little bit, I am on board with. We don’t hear enough about it.
Fast food chains often operate differently in different countries: different menu items to fit local tastes, different names to fit local dialects, different promotions to appeal to a different audience. Last year, Wendy’s returned to the United Kingdom for the first time in over 20 years, and by last month, the burger chain opened their eighth British location in the hip London neighborhood of Camden. This time, however, Wendy wanted to make a lasting impression in an area known for music and fashion — and the resulting Emo Wendy has certainly captured the internet’s attention.
Originally part of a Camden street art mural — and now adorning the outside of the new Wendy’s — is a depiction of the chain’s iconic redhead but with what the brand calls a “flowing emo fringe” instead of her usual pigtails. The actual restaurant opened back on June 28, but photos of Emo Wendy have emerged as a social media meme in the last few days as more people have gotten a chance to snap pics of the restaurant’s exterior.
So what happened in Wendy’s life that made her switch her style? The whole thing is actually an advertising campaign. Back in June, Wendy’s teamed up with the ad agency VMLY&R and the artist platform Camden Open Air Gallery to design three new mascots that fit the Camden vibe. Three different looks were designed in total — punk, bouffant quiff, and emo — and Twitter followers were then asked to vote on which Wendy should be the face of the Camden location.
For years, fast-food enthusiasts have had a chip off their shoulders. Sometimes there’s too much ketchup on their French fry, rendering it a flabby mess. At other times, it’s barely there. And don’t get them started on the concept of double-dipping.
Heinz UK claims to have the perfect solution to end this fries-stration for good: ‘Spoon Friez’. As their name suggests, they’re fries in the shape of spoons.
According to the condiment maker, the mouths of spoons are just the right size to carry the perfect amount of ketchup for the ultimate eating experience. “Carbs in the shape of a spoon? Fry-nally,” the brand tweets.
LADBible reports that the company began dipping into (or scooped into?) the idea of making edible cutlery after a self-conducted survey that revealed 95% of consumers would rather not eat their fries if there was no sauce. The research also found that 84% were annoyed at how they couldn’t nail the perfect potato-to-ketchup ratio.
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to find Spoon Friez at your favorite fast-food joint. Heinz only gave them away as part of a sweepstakes for National Fries Day, which falls on July 13 each year. The fact that that’s a Wednesday this year, and not a Friday (Fry-day, get it?), is kind of infuriating.
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