My first reaction to the new Vancouver Convention Center logo when I saw it on the Brand New blog was — yikes, that looks really cold! I suppose that makes sense, because it certainly is cold in Vancouver, however, in my mind, that translates into — I don’t want to go there. I’m assuming that’s not the message the Vancouver Convention Center wants to send out. But enough about my hatred of all things cold. Let’s get back to branding.
When I look at the new Vancouver Convention Center logo, a few red flags are immediately raised:
- This logo will be a b*!ch to reproduce in a variety of formats. Think of the standard corporate giveaways such as embroidered golf shirts, hot stamped coffee mugs, and so on. Forget the occasional half tone. This logo is ALL half tones!
- This logo would have worked well for the Titanic.
- This logo looks like someone used Word Art in PowerPoint with a standard texture applied to it.
- This logo looks a lot like the logo and title page for Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel. I love that show, but I don’t love this logo.
- This logo reminds me of the cover to The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger.
Perhaps I’m being overly critical, but this effort seems like yet another rebranding effort that cost a lot of money gone terribly wrong.
Your thoughts?
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
