Lovely Package: The leading source for the very best that package design has to offer.
posted by chunking express on Oct 30, 2008 - 28 comments

Product Placement Banned in U.K. Minister says it 'contaminates programs'.
posted by jeremy b on Jun 13, 2008 - 44 comments

We believe that nothing is possible without the Lord's blessing and consent. Your product is no exception.
posted by dhammond on Mar 16, 2008 - 51 comments

" Jim's ghost was in my ear, and I felt terrible". Like all top classic-rock franchises, The Doors can exploit a lucrative afterlife in television commercials. Offers keep coming in, such as the $15 million dangled by Cadillac last year to lease the song "Break On Through (to the Other Side)" to hawk its luxury SUVs. To the surprise of the corporation and the chagrin of his former bandmates, drummer John Densmore vetoed the idea. He said he did the same when Apple Computer called with a $4-million offer, and every time "some deodorant company wants to use 'Light My Fire.' "
posted by PenguinBukkake on Oct 5, 2005 - 119 comments

No logos project. Delete!, fettered capitalism in Vienna.
posted by fatllama on Aug 10, 2005 - 23 comments

The New Pitch
posted by Gyan on Mar 22, 2005 - 26 comments

These bodies are FREE, so get one NOW!: Advertising and Branding in Social Virtual Worlds. [abstract / PDF]. Related to this thread.
posted by signal on May 17, 2004 - 2 comments

Old Brands Never Die; They're Just Waiting For Someone To Wake Them Up: With the Nostalgia and Retro boom playing off the increasing number of niche markets made possible by the Web, it's time to start desperately plugging those favourite, time-honoured brands which "they" unforgivably stopped making, leaving their loyal fans in the lurch. What would you bring back, given half a chance? (I'll weigh in with Sobranie Black Russian cigarettes; the original Volkswagen Beetle; the Oldsmobile or, definitely, the Olympia manual Monica typewriter.)
posted by MiguelCardoso on Jan 27, 2004 - 19 comments

Verisign modifies the infrastructure of the net to point back to themselves. Verisign has rigged all .com and .net mistyped domains to reroute to their branded search page. This makes them effectively the biggest cybersquatter on the net, and will make it impossible for most spam filters at the network level to operate as well as seriously complicating the lives of network administrators everywhere.
posted by dejah420 on Sep 15, 2003 - 64 comments

Unbrand America
In the coming months a black spot will pop up everywhere...on store windows and newspaper boxes, on gas pumps and supermarket shelves. Open a magazine or newspaper - it's there. It's on TV. It stains the logos and smears the nerve centers of the world's biggest corporations.
posted by mapalm on Jun 11, 2003 - 115 comments

UPS revamps Its logo and branding. The unveiling occurred a week ago. Say goodbye to the classic Paul Rand logo, and hello to yet another 'swoop'!
posted by zanpo on Apr 4, 2003 - 60 comments

Takes the phrase "Get a Life" to a new level. Those masterminds of marketing, those night rocking, day partying satanic minions, KISS, have achieved the ultimate score in product merchandising. That's right, it's your very own KISS coffin, and while you might think "What's the point?", keep in mind that before you shuffle off this mortal coil, it doubles as a beer cooler.
posted by jeremias on Feb 20, 2003 - 36 comments

Brainwashed? Moi? Does this make you uncomfortable too? Imagine it was The Wall Street Journal's or The Daily Telegraph's logo stamped on your forehead instead of The Guardian's. Or all three. We are what we read, but perhaps wide reading is a thing of the past. Beneath the po-mo jokiness, crude branding seems to have reached the normally label-resistant Left. This is particularly true in the case of The Guardian, the indispensable journal of reference for British students and teachers. How many of us nowadays make a point of reading at least two politically divergent newspapers?
posted by MiguelCardoso on Feb 10, 2003 - 58 comments

Orbitz Marketing head says Pop-ups are Great! Yes, I got this from Fark, but it is still worth a look. The article includes the marketer's e-mail address. Let him know what you think about his ads!
posted by trigfunctions on Nov 19, 2002 - 27 comments

Brawny Man Finalists In the most tremendously important link of the day, the time has come for the public to select who will be the one and only Brawny man. The field has been narrowed down to several finalists. Which one will it be? Whose pecs will reign supreme?
posted by oissubke on Oct 14, 2002 - 23 comments

Brand USA Naomi ('No Logo') Klein on Charlotte Beers' work to manage the US 'brand'. Sitting outside the US, a lot of what Klein says about external perception of the 'brand' (and of Beers' actions) seems quite believable to me, but I'd be interested in hearing an insider view.
Klein's assertion that "...America's problem is not with its brand-- which could scarcely be stronger--but with its product" seems relatively solid, and if it is, it seems that Ms Beers' mission is all-but-impossible, or at the very least misdirected.
That said, the thrust of Klein's argument is the assertion that the US's values are basically incompatible with the whole idea of branding, and I'd suggest that the same could be said of many countries. I suppose the point here is that this specific exercise is rooted in the US's positioning of itself in the world at this point in time.
[Via abraxas]
posted by jonpollard on Mar 18, 2002 - 4 comments

The Economist says "Brands are good for you." "They not only simplify choices and guarantee quality, but they add fun and interest." You need a subscription to read the cover article (natch), but the cover that appropriates Naomi Klein's book title is at the link, and there is a companion article you can read. Here's her response. Are there people who genuinely think that "we" are in charge of the brands? Is this the new corporate line--"Can't we all just get along?"
posted by aflakete on Sep 9, 2001 - 21 comments

any movement you can dish out. if you look underground, chances are cool hunters will stop you in your tracks and ask to take your picture and learn about your ways. it sure feels good to be recognized. where do they go with your picture, you'd wonder, i mean you never hear from them again. turns out these guys turn around and sell your image to corporations who turn around and mass market it. so much for cool.
posted by elle on May 2, 2001 - 15 comments

Google appears to be telling a story with their logo. Is this a fun and creative way to "extend their brand" (as the marcom kids like to say) or do they need to stop letting their engineers handle their logo design?
posted by jkottke on May 2, 2000 - 22 comments