Old Williams Coffee Pub

New Williams Fresh Cafe

For those of you that are not familiar, Williams is a local cafe and eatery. I think their greatest asset is the free internet that they offer. This has allowed them to become the local meeting place for business folk all around. If you were to go into any Williams during work hours, you are always going to find countless laptops opened and numerous meetings taking place. The old branding and positioning was focussed around the cafe experience. It was important and a good strategy ten years ago, but that time has passed.

Lately, I've noticed that the food selections have been getting better, and healthier. Just the other day, I had a lunch meeting at Williams and enjoyed an excellent Minestrone Soup and California Salad. They were both excellent and I would eat there again anytime.

Focused on being a coffee pub, they were fighting with Starbucks and Tim Hortons, with coffee which was mediocre at best, that wasn't a battle that they could win.

With the rebranding and repositioning, it looks like they want to be known as a healthy food choice as well as a great place to sit and meet friends. Overall, I think the new repositioning is fantastic and believe it will help them to grow.

They should have called me first

Overall, I like the new look and the new positioning. I think it's clean and refreshing, which serves them very well if they want to now be know for fresh and healthy food. I have one critique however. That leaf that blends into the word "Fresh". Its too… too clip art. It does not serve well as an icon that only Williams can use. If you were to separate the leaf and put it beside the millions of other green leaves that are in logos all over the world, would it stand out as being Williams' leaf? I don't think so. Unfortunately, I think that leaves them with an icon that is totally dependent on being a part of the entire logo to be identified as Williams.

Had they created an icon that was theirs and theirs only, it would have been better for them. Look at other food chains, McDonalds' golden arches or East Side Mario's Statue of Liberty with the Tomato. When you see those icons, there is no disputing where they belong. Williams could have benefited with something a bit more unique. But they didn't call me, so all I can do is blog about it.

What do you think?

Do you like the new rebranding and positioning ? Do you like the new logo? Let me know.

Ciao

I think it's a nice design. Congratulations Vancouver.

Let's go drink to celebrate!

To read more, click here.

Ciao,
Robert Scozzari RGD

If you want your brand to be relevant, you must offer your clients, customers and prospects useful information. You must give, give and give.

If you want your brand to be less relevant and forgettable, hire a celebrity.

Just check out these stats…

If you want to convince people to trust your brand, convince their family members, friends and associates first so that they will refer you.

If you want to have the least amount of trust for your brand, again, hire a celebrity. Sorry Brad Pitt.

That's very interesting. It seems, those high paid celebrities, hawking wares, are actually not helping the products they have been hired to sell. It seems, the big companies will be better off hiring me or you.

Ciao,

Robert Scozzari RGD

What? An "apple"? Well, it must look allot like Apple's "apple", the one in their logo right?

Well, no. It's actually quite different. It's actually quite a creative representation of an "apple". It even slightly looks like a "W", for Woolworths.

Well, it must be the same colour as their logo right?

Well, no. It's green.

Perhaps it has a bite out of it, like the Apple logo?

Uh… no to that too. No bite. It has not been bitten. Ixnay on the itebay.

So why are they suing Woolworths? Well, because it's an "apple". Apparently they hold the rights to "apples" in logos. This is not the first time that apple has sued over the image of an "apple" in a logo.

Here are the logo's in question…

Now look very closely. It's not easy to see the very subtle differences. Take a look. See… they are practically identical.

So what does that mean for you, the business owner or marketer?

Well, don't have a logo with an apple in it. But besides that, there is a lesson to learn here. I think Apple is at risk of tarnishing their very precious brand if they keep on this vigilant pursuit of all apples. I believe Woolworths has successfully branded themselves to NOT look like Apple.

One does not make me think they are the other. But just the same. When designing a new logo identity, it's always important to ensure the designer has done everything in their power to check the logo against other logos to confirm there are not resemblances that may result in court. That said, there are hundreds of thousands of logos out there already. How do you make sure that your logo does not resemble other logos? Well, that's where a good creative designer comes into place. A designer that does not simply rely on their first instinct in creating imagery for your company. A good designer should know when to continue with ideas until they have created something truly unique.

That doesn't mean that your logo will not resemble any other logo in the world, it should just greatly reduce the chances. Which will make you stand out from your competitors.

Ciao,

Robert Scozzari RGD

A genuine debacle has happened. I know that many of you are floored that this has happened. And the ones that don't know, you had better sit down for this one. I mean it. This is big like a venté latte at Starbucks. Or actually, I should say it's big like a Billy Bookcase with the height extension unit.

OK… I don't know how to tell you. Well, first I should tell you about the outcry that this news has caused. Bloggers have been crying in their blogs. Tweeters have been shouting in their Twitters (but not more than 140 characters). Facebookers have been mourning in their groups. What has happened to this world? Does anyone not see the crying horror that Ikea, the lovely Swedish furniture chain, has inflicted on it's fans around the world!

Here it is…

Brace yourself…

Ready?

IKEA has switched the font of their catalogue and marketing from Futura to Verdana.

What! How can this be? The Horror! Just take a look for yourself…

Oh my, the carnage!

OK, seriously now. What does this mean to you, the business owner or marketer? Why should you care. Well, here is the thing, a font is an integral part of the brand and image of a company. A font says and communicates a story about brand and image that should not be overlooked.

Let me give you a bit of a background on the two fonts in question. Actually, let's make this a game. I'll describe the history of the two fonts and you tell me which one tells the story of IKEA the most and which one the least.

Futura (above): Futura is a sans-serif typeface designed by Paul Renner in 1927. In the early 20'th century, the newest, most modern movement in typography was the sans-serif movement. While it may not seem like a big deal today, believe you me, cutting the serifs (the little dashes at the ends of "I" and the bottom of "T", you get it) off of type was a huge deal. Very modern and controversial. Futura was one of the most influential fonts of that movement. Implementing the core philosophies of the Bauhaus art movement, it's characteristics were strict geometric outlines, no embellishments,  reinventing the historical shapes of letters, stripping the unessential to the bare minimum of the type. This was a radical type! Now, 82 years later. Futura is still as modern looking as it was the day it was first designed.

Verdana (above): Not so much of a history, Verdana was designed by Matthew Carter and commissioned by Microsoft (they make software for computers) in 1992. It too is a sans-serif font but not so geometric as Futura. It's actually described as a "humanist sans", which means it's been given a more human nature with varying widths and more calligraphic than non-humanist sans (I know, you don't care). Verdana was designed for one purpose, for on-screen viewing. In the early computer days, there were not many fonts that displayed well on screen. There was a definite need for a stable font that held up at very small font sizes on standard VGA monitors. It's designer, Matthew Carter himself has said that this font is not designed for print. That's all. Not much else needs to be said about Verdana.

Now, of the above two described fonts, which one tells the story of IKEA the best? If the story isn't being fully told in the best possible way, what will that do to the perception of the company? It's products? It's quality? It's commitment to design? Verdana is OK, but it's not IKEA. Verdana is more Sears. It's fine, but it's still… meh!

The rationale from IKEA is that the change in fonts is to have a font in both print and screen that are consistent. If we start limiting ourselves to to what's achievable on screen only, we will be confronted with a new world of blah brands that are sterile and boring. Screen and print are two different mediums (as of writing this September 3, 2009). They each have limitations and capabilities. Good design and branding should explore the capabilities, not limit itself to the limitations.

How can this benefit you, the business owner or marketer?

When designing your brand look at the whole story. How do all the elements come together to create a cohesive brand? Did your designer explore all the possibilities of the medium? Don't limit the creativity to 8 fonts and 256 colours when designing for print. It's a much bigger world out there on the printing press and even bigger world with unlimited branding capabilities.

But most importantly, make sure you know what your story is and ensure that every aspect of the brand tells the same story in it's own unique way.

Please, if you have a comment, let me know by using the handy form below.

Ciao,

Robert Scozzari | www.CloverRoad.ca

This is interesting news I thought many of you will be interested. Especially the Canadian readers. On Monday morning, Tim Hortons, Canada's biggest Coffee and Donut chain will be opening 13 locations in the Big Apple, New York City.

It's quite the branding exercise as native New Yorkers, who have never heard of Tim's, will all of a sudden be bumping into them, perhaps numerous times a day.

Click here to read the article: Tim Hortons hits Big Apple

This is a huge branding exercise. I'm very curious to see how it turns out. Maybe there are enough Canadians in NY to support 13 stores without the help of a well known brand.

Take Care. Let me know what you think. Will Tim Hortons make it there? Can they make it anywhere? Leave a comment below.

Robert Scozzari RGD – President, Clover Road
Stand out from your competition. Stand out to your prospects.
www.cloverroad.ca | 905-865-0033 | robert@cloverroad.ca