Remember MicroPro? In the 1980s, and even at the beginning of the 1990s, MicroPro made leading word processing software product, WordStar. The program was even heralded as ‘one of the greatest single software efforts in the history of computing’ by the widely respected technology expert, John C Dvorak.
Because of the popularity of the WordStar product, […]
When British Airways went through an expensive rebranding exercise in 1996, it couldn’t have picked a worse time. The media contrasted the costly makeover with the ‘cost-saving’ redundancies announced shortly afterwards.
There was also criticism about the nature of the new identity. The airline had abandoned the Union Jack colours on the tail-fin, and replaced them […]
In 1998, Payless Drug Store, a regional chain of chemists operating across western USA, changed its name to Rite Aid Corporation. The name change required several million dollars spent on advertising just to gain a level of local awareness equivalent to the previous brand name. The reason for the change was the acquisition of the […]
Same identity, different name
At the risk of understating the case, nuclear energy has always had something of an image problem. When incidents happen at nuclear plants this ‘problem’ becomes a nightmare.
For instance, when massive amounts of radioactive material were released from the UK’s Windscale atomic works in 1957, following a serious fire, the consequences were […]
How the ‘beautiful dream’ went sour
In 1998, a new UK digital TV channel was introduced which aimed to take on Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB and convert millions of middle-England viewers to pay-television with a new platform accessible via set-top boxes - digital terrestrial television. In 2002, however, it went out of business.
‘We thought we could take […]
Undoing the brand
In September 2001, UK mobile phone operator BT Cellnet announced it was getting rid of its brand name in favour of a new international identity. The decision followed a continuing drop in its market share of call revenues. Furthermore, BT Cellnet’s arch-rival Orange (often admired for its brand name) increased its revenues and […]
The power of the logo
Tommy Hilfiger is one of the world’s best-loved designer clothing brands. During the 1990s Tommy Hilfiger moved from being a small, niche brand targeting upper class US consumers to becoming a global powerhouse with broad youth appeal.
But then, in 2000, the brand was suddenly in trouble. From a high of US […]
A post office by any other name
When the UK state-owned Post Office Group decided to change its brand identity, a new name was the first on the shopping list. The reason for the brand makeover was partly to do with the fact that the 300-year-old Post Office Group was no longer simply a mail-only organization. […]
