General Mills, Target Play on Consumers' Nostalgia†

Retro Designs of Their Youth Appeal to Stressed Shoppers' Desire for Comfort

Advertising Age, March 3, 2009 — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — If food can be comforting, how about packaging? With consumers embracing old-world classics such as casserole, some marketers are trying to get on the bandwagon by trotting out some old-school style. General Mills has given Target a month-long exclusive on retro box designs for some of its best-selling cereals, Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs and Trix.

Kraft Unveils New Brand Identity†

Adweek, February 18, 2009 — Kraft Foods today unveiled a new corporate logo and brand identity, a move analysts say could better position the food company against private label goods.

Kraft Crafts New Brand Identity†

Brandweek, February 17, 2009 — Kraft Foods today unveiled a new corporate logo and brand identity, a move analysts say could better position the food company against private-label goods.

Kraft, which owns brands like Velveeta and Oreo, is making the announcement at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York conference, currently taking place in Boca Raton, Fla. Bearing the slogan, "make today delicious," the new Kraft logo consists of an upward, red smile exploding into an array of seven "flavor bursts," each of which represents a different division of Kraft's business. (The triangular shape, for instance, is meant to evoke Kraft's DiGiorno pizza brand.) The logo will begin appearing on the back and side panels of Kraft-branded foods worldwide. Kraft worked with design agency Nitro on... continue reading

'Breathtaking' Is One Word for Purported Arnell Pepsi Doc†

Mad Ave Buzzing About the Deep Thinking That Supposedly Went Into Brand Logo Redesign

Advertising Age, February 11, 2009 — Over the past 24 hours, adland has been abuzz about "Breathtaking," a 27-page document purported to be the thinking behind Arnell Group's recent revamping of Pepsi-Cola's logo. Littered as it is with marketing jargon, images of yin-yangs, mobius strips and Da Vinci's Vitruvian man, you'll maybe wonder whether Michael Phelps wasn't the only one hitting that bong.

Cultivating innovation: An interview with the CEO of a leading Italian design firm

Alberto Alessi, head of his family’s iconic design factory, talks about how to sustain innovation over decades—and why companies should take more risk.

McKinsey Quarterly, February 1, 2009 — Alberto Alessi is the third generation to lead his family’s iconic design firm. Founded and still based in Crusinallo, about an hour north of Milan, Italy, the firm remains privately owned. In Alessi’s view, both the ownership structure and the location of his company have imbued it with a strong tradition of artisanship—and given its designers the freedom to create as they see fit.

Samsung: Rethinking the Printer Business

Samsung's bet that eye-catching design, and a partnership with Apple, would boost its share of the printer market is paying off

BusinessWeek, January 5, 2009 — In September 2007, Apple (AAPL) upstaged rival electronics retailers with a new product available only at its 180 stores. Billed as the world's smallest laser printer, the SCX-4500 offered all the must-have features of an Apple blockbuster: sleek good looks, buttonless touch controls, and easy set-up. The logo on the front, though, wasn't Apple's. It belonged to Samsung Electronics—one of the biggest suppliers of flat-panel televisions, cellular phones, and refrigerators in retailing—which created the stunning, piano-black printer. Intent on toppling industry giant Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), the South Korean consumer electronics giant spent three years working on its first designer printer before teaming up with Apple for its introduction.

A New Look for McDonald's

McDonald's is rolling out new designs for its food packaging aimed at fortifying the brand and staying ahead of obesity concerns

BusinessWeek, December 3, 2008 — McDonald's (MCD) is busily remodeling its U.S. locations, accessorizing interiors with flat-panel televisions and plush chairs—even the exteriors are made of real brick these days (BusinessWeek, 5/15/06). Now the Oak Brook (Ill.) chain is turning to its packaging. In early November the king of cheap eats began rolling out new packaging across its 13,900 U.S. restaurants that aims to make the containers for its sandwiches, french fries, and soft drinks more relevant to today's consumers, and not look like a throwback to the 1990s.

Dell Bets Splashy Design Will Sell Its New Laptops

Dell Design Chief Ed Boyd is transforming those once-stodgy PCs with art and color. Can made-to-order laptops revitalize the computer maker?

BusinessWeek, October 30, 2008 — Ed Boyd, one of Dell's most unusual hires in recent years, is an industrial designer who used to dream up new sunglasses and shoes for Nike (NKE). Now the 43-year-old is trying to make design an integral part of Dell, the personal computer maker long known for cranking out boring gray boxes. "

Coca-Cola: Building a Better Design Machine?

Its Web-based design tool lets the beverage giant customize marketing for hundreds of brands globally while slashing the time it takes to reach consumers

BusinessWeek, October 13, 2008 — Coca-Cola: Building a Better Design Machine?

Its Web-based design tool lets the beverage giant customize marketing for hundreds of brands globally while slashing the time it takes to reach consumers

By Jessie Scanlon

Walk into any grocery or convenience store and you're likely to see big sales signs tied to events—say, an Olympic-themed sign promoting a series of limited edition Coca-Cola (KO) cans that were available during the Beijing Summer Games. In the past 12 months, Coca-Cola Enterprises, the biggest bottler and distributor of Coke products in the U.S., has created 700,000 of these customized point-of-sale materials alone and expects to pump out 50% more in the next year.

Just five years ago a team of people might have spent weeks or... continue reading

Coke's New Design Direction

Five years ago, Coca-Cola's design chief was told: "We need to do more with design. Go figure it out." Now his labors are bearing fruit

BusinessWeek, August 25, 2008 — When David Butler joined Coca-Cola (KO) almost five years ago, he was given, as he tells it, "the Post-it Note mandate: We need to do more with design. Go figure it out." Butler, who had come from a gig as director of brand strategy at the interactive marketing and consulting firm Sapient, had soon written up a 30-page manifesto laying out a design strategy for the company. But if Butler, who's now vice-president for design, has made an impact at the beverage giant, it's not because of some heady proclamation. Instead it's because he has learned the most effective way to implement design strategy at a company as large and complex as Coca-Cola: avoid the word "design" as much as possible.