Category: Observations

The HP Rebrand that wasn’t (yet)

I had set this aside months ago – when I first saw it – so that I could do a proper write it up. Unfortunately Armin Vit at Brand New beat me to it, writing it up twice(!) a couple of weeks after I first saw it. Nevertheless, this rebranding project is worth sharing, and I’m sure you’ll appreciate it as much as I did.

Moving Brands has really pared down its original case study from what I saw up there, which is a shame. That’s not to say I don’t understand – it kind of blew up for a while there, and the brand manager at HP probably had a few sleepless nights over all the hubbub. This kind of work is usually kept pretty close to the chest, and I’d guess HP is feeling a little exposed.

Nonetheless, the work that was available is really, enviably nice. Here’s a small handful of shots that I grabbed before they disappeared. Hopefully if someone from either HP or Moving Brands sees this, I won’t get into too much trouble.

Harley Spirit

Harley Davidson has been doing a great job with its brand communications for a long time now, and this ad is just one more example of how it’s done, properly. One of the great things about their communications is how exclusive the brand is. One of the best ways to create a passionate following is to define your brand, and exclude people from it. With clearly defined borders, your audience is either in, or its out.

The central tenet of this ad is that you are either a born Harley owner, or you aren’t. It’s an exclusive brand, as opposed to the come-one come-all inclusive brands.

Hunting Season Begins

This ad appears to be for a shopping centre in Italy, but the concept is still great. Retailers run their end of season sales at the same time, with smaller retailers looking out their shop’s doors to see when the bigger shops start their clearances.

I’m wondering how well the headline translates from Italian into English – it seems like a competent copywriter could tighten it up a bit.

Is it Time for Fedex to Overhaul their Brand?

When one of your senior executives has to quickly produce an apology video, your brand is in real danger.

Along with many of you, we’ve seen the video showing one of our couriers carelessly and improperly delivering a package the other day. As the leader of our pickup and delivery operations across America, I want you to know that I was upset, embarrassed, and very sorry for our customer’s poor experience. This goes directly against everything we have always taught our people and expect of them. It was just very disappointing.

As an aside, if your name includes “III” or “the third”, you may come across a little pretentious when you speak to the masses.

This video, which appeared shortly before Christmas, is Fedex’s response to this video, which shows a Fedex driver throwing a box over a short fence, apparently while the recipient was home.

But that last video has nothing on this video of another misbehaving Fedex driver:

It’s probably time for Fedex to give some serious thought about how they can start delivering a better customer experience. A brand that doesn’t really understand how important it is to deliver that experience is a doomed one, especially with the voice that today’s consumers have.