Simon Wakeman - marketing, public relations and digital communications

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@jangles - that said, it outputs as <ul> or <ol> so that wouldn't work as you need a dropdown. i'll think again!

London 2012 brand launch - the aftermath

Monday, June 4th, 2007 at 10:26 pm

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It’s been an interesting day - having been at the launch of the London 2012 brand this morning and then getting home this evening to read the reaction to the new logo online.

Thanks to decent wifi at the Roundhouse and a handy table, I managed to get a picture of the logo up as the presentation was continuing. and then followed up with my initial reactions a bit later on.

launch2

I’ve not live blogged like that before, but it was certainly an exciting experience blogging and racing to be quick to post my thoughts. As a result today’s the busiest day by a fair margin that I’ve had since launching this blog.

To call the reaction so far to the logo (not brand) mixed would probably be a charitable interpretation. Comments posted on the BBC and Guardian websites seem overwhelmingly negative.

Meanwhile in the blogosphere Ellee thinks it might grow on her, while Jon reports a mixed reaction from the team at Lewis 360. Johnnie focusses on the launch and some of the hyperbole that went with it, while Heather is along the same lines as she questions the wisdom of using public relations to promote what’s effectively a marketing device.

launch

Personally I can’t say I love it or hate the logo. I stand by what I wrote earlier and commend the organisers for being courageous enough to do something different with the visual identity, rather than playing safe with a bland or predictable option.

But really whether people love it or hate it now isn’t really relevant. The identity is only a small part of the overall brand. To see whether the identity works we’ll need to see it applied to websites, merchandise, documents etc.

What will really matter is whether the organisers can bring their brand to life in reality, away from the glitzy high budget launches and instead on the streets, playing fields and running tracks of Great Britain.

If their actions over the next five years are true to the values of the brand they announced today, then a fuss over the logo today will seem an irrelevance.

In the long term the value of a brand will come more from what the organisation does, rather than what it looks like, but the big reveal today has served to focus attention (too much) on the identity to the detriment of the other messages that were talked about today.

I hope the people at LOCOG have the confidence in their convictions to ride out the negative headlines and stick with their bold new identity.

On a related note with Edelman running media relations and online PR for the launch, it’ll be interesting to see how the organisers plan to use social media in their communications over the coming years.

It was a bit of shame to not see a social media press release today to kick things off on the social media front, especially as presumably they had the Storycrafter tool at their disposal.

More launch images available on Flickr.

[tags]london+2012, london, logo, olympics, brand, branding, paralympics, london+2012+logo[/tags]

Tags: Blogging, brand, Branding, logo, london, london+2012, london+2012+logo, Marketing, olympics, paralympics, Public relations, Social media

Comments on “London 2012 brand launch - the aftermath”

So here it is - the new London 2012 logo | Simon Wakeman
Monday, June 4th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
[...] Update: posts from the launch here and here, and further analysis here. [...]
First thoughts on the new London 2012 brand | Simon Wakeman
Monday, June 4th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
[...] Update: further analysis here. [...]

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Simon Wakeman

I've been on the web since 2001 and have been blogging about marketing and public relations since January 2006.

I'm currently Head of Marketing at Medway Council as well as a freelance marketing and PR consultant.

The content and opinions expressed on this website are not endorsed by nor reflect the views of any company or organisation I work with.

When I worked with Simon I found him to be postive, forward thinking and a pleasure to work with. Mark Pearson

Simon was energetic, focused and displayed a commercial and pragmatic approach at delivering propositions. I found he was able to deliver projects within plan through building great relationships with his team and those in other disciplines or with suppliers. Nick Kusalic, Egg

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