rebrand

Russia’s Rebranded McDonald’s Restaurants (Vkusno i tochka) Scribble Out Golden Arches On Sauce Packets

Posted on by Phil Lam X

Russia’s McDonald’s restaurants reopened Sunday with a new name, logo, and menu, but the same sauce packets.

Staff at the rebranded fast-food chain scribbled out the McDonald’s logo on sauce packets with black pen, Reuters reported, with an image from the Agence France-Presse seemingly confirming this.

Vkusno & tochka, which Reuters translated as “tasty and that’s it,” opened 15 stores in and around Moscow on Sunday, including what was formerly McDonald’s flagship Russian restaurant in the city’s Pushkin Square.

Alexander Govor, a Russian businessperson, bought Russia’s McDonald’s restaurants after the burger giant said that continued ownership was “no longer tenable, nor is it consistent with McDonald’s values” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The hurried rebranding shows how Govor has tried to strike a balance between operating restaurants that will satisfy customers as a substitute for McDonald’s and not violating the company’s trademarks.

“We don’t have the right to use some colors, we don’t have the right to use the golden arches, we don’t have the right to use any mention of McDonald’s,” Govor told Reuters.

The huge lines of people waiting to get burgers in the days before Russian McDonald’s restaurants closed and the hefty price tags for its products on classified-ads sites showed the scale of its bulging Russian market. By clinging on to aspects of McDonald’s menu, branding, and store design, whenever possible, Vkusno & tochka can try win over loyal customers.

The famous golden arches have been scrapped, and Vkusno & tochka has a new logo made up of just one dot and two lines — or a burger and two fries — which appear in the shape of a large “M.”

Oleg Paroev, who was named as the CEO of McDonald’s Russia in February, and who has continued his role as CEO of Vkusno & tochka, said the restaurant interiors would remain the same but all traces of the McDonald’s name would be removed, Reuters reported.

Reuters reported that the chain largely used plain white packaging for fries and burgers, plain white drink cups, and plain brown paper takeaway bags. This is also evident in some of the photos of products on Vkusno & tochka’s website.

Though some dishes look familiar, Vkusno & tochka has no plans to sell Big Macs and McFlurrys.

“These names, these brands, their appearance and production technology” are too directly related to McDonald’s, Paroev said, according to The Journal.

Source: Business Insider

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“Give The Green M&M Her Little Hoochie Heels Back” — Green M&M Loses Go-Go Boots In Rebrand

Posted on by Phil Lam X

Can a group of multicolored candy characters change the world? The marketing minds behind M&M’s certainly hope so.

The brand just announced its multi-pronged approach to “creating a world where everyone feels they belong and society is inclusive,” and it apparently starts with makeovers for each of those colorful M&M’s characters that star in the brand’s popular commercials.

The candy company decided to give each of the six characters a “fresh, modern take” on their traditional look and “more nuanced personalities to underscore the importance of self-expression and power of community through storytelling.”

The blink-or-you’ll-miss-it design changes are kind of like looking at one of those “Can you spot the difference?” pictures, and they’re not immediately noticeable. But upon closer inspection, a few notable differences become clear.

The biggest — and perhaps most controversial — change is that the green M&M, who typically sports her signature white go-go boots, has stepped into a pair of “cool, laid-back sneakers to reflect her effortless confidence.”

Brown, the other female character, has also slipped into something a little more comfy — block heels, instead of her signature stiletto. She and the green M&M will also have a more friendly relationship than they’ve previously had, “together throwing shine and not shade.”

Online, people joked about the idea of these arbitrary character changes creating a more inclusive society — and many wanted these personified candies to stay the same.

“Today on Fresh Air,” tweeted Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR politics correspondent. “The green M&M, newly liberated from her white boots, lets loose. She talks social reproduction theory, how patriarchy and capitalism violently reinforce each other, and what a sexy lady M&M says about gender as a construct. Stay with us.”

“I am a single issue voter and my issue: KEEP THE GREEN M&M A HOT SEXY LADY,” tweeted another person.

Another Twitter user proposed that Green’s heels should be even higher.

Source: Today

The Hidden Message You Didn’t Realize Was In The Twix Logo

Posted on by Phil Lam X

Do you remember when you learned that the FedEx logo had a hidden arrow in it? If this is news to you, check the negative space between the “E” and the “x.” Neat, eh? Logo design is a crucial part of the branding process, for sure, especially with household items and food products, considering just how often customers will be looking at the packaging. Iconic logos like Coca-Cola’s swoopy cursive letterforms and the McDonald’s golden arches have stood the test of time, but those are pretty straightforward examples. More intriguing is when designers decide to slip in secret design elements for consumers to find. This is the hidden message you didn’t realize was in the Twix logo.

Hebrew Speakers Mock Facebook’s Corporate Rebrand To Meta

Posted on by Phil Lam X

Social media users in Israel are mocking Facebook’s company name change to Meta, as it sounds similar to the Hebrew word for “dead.”

Many Twitter users scoffed at the social media company’s rebrand — revealed by founder Mark Zuckerberg earlier this week — using the hashtag #FacebookDead. “Somebody did not do their #branding research,” one post read.

Dr Nirit Weiss-Blatt, author of The Techlash and Tech Crisis Communication, tweeted: “In Hebrew, *Meta* means *Dead* The Jewish community will ridicule this name for years to come.”

“Grave error?? Facebook’s new name Meta means dead in Hebrew. Hilarious. #FacebookDead” another user tweeted.

Zuckerberg’s efforts to revamp Facebook come as the company faces what could be its most potent scandal since it launched in 2004.

The social media giant is under the spotlight following the publication this week of “The Facebook Papers,” a series of internal documents obtained by 17 news organizations, including CNN, that underpin whistleblower Frances Haugen’s claims the company is riddled with institutional shortcomings.

The documents reveal how Facebook has propelled misinformation, struggled to eliminate human trafficking-related content on the site, and tried to increase its teenage audience, despite internal research suggesting that its platforms, especially Instagram, can have an adverse effect on their mental health.

Facebook isn’t the first company to be ridiculed after its branding didn’t translate abroad.

In 2019, Kim Kardashian West was accused of cultural appropriation after debuting her shapewear brand, which she initially named Kimono. Kardashian even appeared to have trademarked the word “kimono,” a decision that the mayor of Kyoto, Daisaku Kadokawa, criticized in an open letter on Facebook.

“We think that the names for ‘Kimono’ are the asset shared with all humanity who love Kimono and its culture therefore they should not be monopolized,” Kadokawa wrote.

Kardashian changed the name of her brand to Skims later that year.

In 2017, McDonald’s name change in China raised eyebrows. Customers were left confused when the company swapped Maidanglao, a Chinese iteration of the English name, to Jingongmen, which loosely translates to “Golden Arches.” One customer said it “sounds like a furniture store.”

Source: CNN

Here are the new Charlotte Hornets uniforms, and everything you need to know about them

Posted on by Phil Lam X

Charlotte Hornets fans have loved the teal pinstripes since 1988. The team listened and learned.

Next season’s primary uniforms will be white jerseys with teal pinstripes and teal jerseys with white pinstripes, the Hornets announced Monday. They won’t quite be direct replicas of Alexander Julian’s iconic design, but they’re close.

The new look will be available to fans for retail purchase Oct. 1.

When the Bobcats re-branded to the Hornets’ name and look in the spring of 2014, they adopted the original teal and purple color scheme. However, the uniforms were dissimilar to Julian’s pinstripe-and-pleats look, which so contributed to the expansion team’s popularity in the early 1990s. They were teal as the dominant color, but had broader stripes down the side of jerseys.

The Hornets wore replicas of the original uniforms for a handful of games each of the past three seasons, and again that uniform was wildly popular. So, this new design owes heavily to that look.

“We really had our ear to the ground listening to our fans’ comments, many of which through social media,” said Seth Bennett, Hornets senior vice president for consumer engagement. “As we were unveiling some of the uniforms, we kind of paid attention to the feedback and comments we were getting. And some of the polls that we used, to see the popularity of various uniforms.

“We definitely used that to inform the process.”

Under NBA rules, Bennett said, the Hornets couldn’t change the look of their primary uniforms for at least five years.

The Hornets will wear the new pinstripe uniforms most games next season. There will be two other uniforms available: Purple ones with “CHA” stenciled across the chest and an updated version of the “city edition,” to be unveiled later. Most recently, that “city edition” was a gray uniform with “CHA” across the chest.

The rebrand to Hornets has been a success: Bennett said the Hornets have been in the top half of the NBA in merchandise sales consistently since the switch from Bobcats to Hornets

The original classic uniforms, worn by the likes of Larry Johnson, Dell Curry and Muggsy Bogues, will now only be available for celebrating anniversaries. Bennett said, “it will be a few seasons before you see those classic jerseys again.”

Source: The Charlotte Observer