JKR

“From today, Pizza Express is changing. Lots of subtle changes, stripes for example, that you may not notice at first, but when you do, we hope you love. Back in ‘48, our founder Peter Boizot visited Italy, where he saw pizzaiolos dressed in striped shirts tossing pizza dough high into the air. See how our origins have inspired our new look” …So runs the opening copy for a Pizza Express sales promotion I received on Tuesday, which takes the original step of tying a new design announcement to a meal deal.

What do you think of the new look? I like it – it gives the brand, which had become a bit doughy, its teeth back. As a brand that was once quite cool, built around Soho Jazz, it had become pretty mainstream. To add to the stripy shirt tale, I would say the op-art quality of the design references the brands 60s origins. The black and white stripes (a move on from the old white and blue identity) make for a bolder vibe (if not one that’s going to make me feel really cutting edge when I take my little ones there at the weekend, along with all the other parents looking for an easy meal out – but what design could achieve this?). It would be nice to see a few Bridget Riley’s on the walls, though this might freak my two-year-old out.

I guess the point I am making is this simple motif has massive legs for creative interpretation – it just depends on how bold the brand is feeling. The new homepage is pretty funky…

Broadly I would just say that owning a pattern is a very useful equity for any brand and it never ceases to amaze me that even the simplest, most generic ones can still feel visually distinctive. The Pizza Express stripes could indicate anything from Joseph knitwear to humbugs but from now on, for most of us, they will be associated with reasonably priced pizza. If this design is carried over into supermarket packaging with gusto, it’s going to be eye-popping.

Click here.

Hermès has posted fantastically strong figures (certainly stronger than the lollipop headed figures who tote their outsized handbags). “Hermès cannot meet demand for luxury as profits soar” reports The Guardian with a 50% jump in first half profits. This suggests Hermès is ensuring that they are not allowing supply to outstrip demand, so maintaining cache.

Speaking of figures both financial and physical, a couple of years ago we noted that design that occupied the mass premium middle was going to be squeezed, as society separated into the haves and have nots. Here were our little charts….

So, do Hermès’ results back this up? And does this suggest that we are developing a two-tier design world. Basic and cheerful at one end, ostentatious and over the top at the other (or powdered egg for us, Fabergé eggs for them)?

I think the truth is a bit subtler. Hermès might be doing well because it has a classic persona. The Birkin bag hails from a time when Jane Birkin was a young lady (one who asked Hermès to produce a larger version of the Kelly bag she used). The scarves have been around far longer. It’s one of those luxury brands that have an atelier persona.

So, perhaps in times when belts are tighter, those with some money are choosing great design that does not go out of fashion within a season. They are seeing such purchases as an investment in enduring quality rather than transient badges of status. If this is the case it makes a strong argument for less ostentatious luxury design that plays to a brand’s heritage and enduring qualities.

Of course the results might be fuelled by success in Asia, which is a whole other scenario in the enduring luxury design debate of ‘show over know’…

Passing through Dublin airport this week, myself and my colleagues noticed a new Hertz logo – we had a little chat and agreed it must be ‘just going up’. Sixty seconds on Google revealed these notes from a 2009 Under Consideration piece:

“With 8,100 locations in 147 countries and approximately 30 million reservations annually, Hertz is one of the world’s largest rental car services. It’s also the most yellow. Since early this year, Hertz has slowly been introducing a new logo first brought in February from a customer survey. With the logo now on Hertz’s website and the cover of the 2008 annual report I would have expected a little more fanfare or at least more information, but there is none unfortunately.”

So, for me, the design (new to my eyes) is a fine modernisation, but loses some of the trustworthy heft of the original (I associate fat type with robust vehicles and service). However, the return to yellow from black (see Heathrow’s signage below from the same trip) is both happier, more impactful and more the brand in my head.

But who cares what I think? Not Hertz. I’m not being disingenuous, rather noting that every corporate re-fresh now gets a million online armchair critics and if they form an avalanche of nitpicking, it can have a toxic effect for the new born design. Goodness knows we have experienced this joyride ourselves as an agency. I think Hertz’s fanfare free, glacial roll-out  is actually a smart strategy, both in overheads and under the radar sense. The design simply ‘is’ – rather than setting out to make a splash and risking some splash back!

The only caveat is that car hire is about trust and different logos in different cities does not suggest a company who dot the I’s and cross the T’s. Nevertheless, this is a vehicle company who are confident enough to harness the power of slow…

Sitting outside a coffee shop last week, I had to double take the London bus that passed me by. The usual red bus with a splash of advertising had been replaced by one which looked like it had been swallowed up by Google advert clad, London taxi style. The bus in question was advertising the launch of Google Transit; a new service which helps Londoners plan their journeys more efficiently by integrating Google Maps with the Tube, bus, DLR etc. It’s quite a nifty tool – if used on a mobile device, it will automatically use your current location to find the best transportation route to your destination. Clever stuff.

It just shows how powerful it can be to break with convention. Why advertise on the side of a bus when you can re-brand the bus? It’s obviously been done before, but what makes this campaign really powerful is the fact that it has been done in a completely Google way. The execution draws on the brand’s longstanding equities – a canvas of white combined with bright colours disrupt the usual red livery, while some simple graphics bring it all to life. Even though the communication channel has changed, the brand remains instantly recognisable. To stand out, you have to be bold and that’s what makes this unmistakably Google.

While taking about bus advertising, we couldn’t resist showing this classic Pirelli slipper ad by Alan Fletcher.

I noticed the new Food Doctor packaging in my local store today. I buy the roasted soya beans – a lame attempt to avoid snacking on chocolate and crisps throughout the day. It took me a while to find it.  The new design certainly feels more earthly and natural, which might be where the brand wants to go. In terms of the brand idea, I always bought Food Doctor on the premise it was nutrition driven, looked a bit sciencey and therefore would do me some good. This may have put people off, but was such a radical shift necessary? In terms of familiarity, it’s quite a departure from the previous packs – a case of ‘there goes the science bit’!

It’ll be interesting to see whether this will bring new consumers on board at the detriment of alienating those who bought Food Doctor before? This begs the question – is it better to stand for something particular for a limited audience, or smarter to soften the edges and go for a more mass appeal? Something about ‘not being able to please all the people all of the time’ seems pertinent here. For sure, Food Doctor is not the first brand to walk this tricky tightrope.

This certainly raises the debate of distinctiveness and playing to one’s own assets, rather than category conventions.  Although in isolation the new packs have great standout (and the apple device acts as great short-cut to health), in an organic food shop they merge into the array of pale, pastel coloured brands either side. Perhaps the brand believes ‘the name says it all’ and there is something sweet about the graphical nod to ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’. With listings secured in Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose – maybe the brand is onto something after all (assuming people can find it on shelf that is).

The old design wasn’t amazing but the brand certainly had something about it. It went against the grain of healthy and organic products and was more of itself, which gave it more standout within its environment. Only time will tell if the more accessible new design can strike the delicate balance of broadening its appeal whilst retaining a distinctive positioning.

By Jovan Buac, Account Manager, jkr