Last night a friend sent me an SMS saying that she just came from the launch party of the Globe rebranding. She had mentioned this a couple of weeks ago and wanted to know what I thought of it since I do love logo design and branding.
It seems like a group-wide initiative by Ayala Corporation to rebrand most of its subsidiaries if not all. A couple of years ago, the mother company itself had a “refresh” of their brand, opting for a change in their logotype but maintaining their emblem or logo icon. A couple of months back Ayala’s subsidiary BPI also did a few dusting from their ancient logo. BPI dropped the “Bank of the Philippine Islands” from their brand and just went by the name BPI. Although very minor, the logo also got a few tweaks here and there including the introduction of new branches called BPI Express that sported fresh colors of white and red (versus their traditional red, blue and gold).

But okay, I’m not writing about the other brands, but I’m writing about Globe. After that SMS from my friend I quickly went to their website to see if they changed it… and it did. I hate to tell you how unprofessional my response was, but I replied back, “first impression: mm… yikes!” More after the jump…

As a backgrounder, Globe did need a rebrand. In my mind they were the first provider of GSM here, but in a good number years SMART has been the leader in providing mobile services with 25 million subscribers and contributing a significant amount of 1 billion text messages being sent in the Philippines a day!

Globe’s brand impression, to me and some of my friends at least, is that it is the elitist mobile provider versus SMART’s “pang-masa” (mass market) appeal. This morning I opened the newspaper and saw 6 page sequential ad printed on book paper versus the normal newsprint. The ad goes like this:

“More than just calls and text messages, we’re about thoughts and feelings. And ideas in all their shapes and sizes. More than just building your business, we’re about creating partnerships for your future. Sino man ang nais mong kausapin… (whom ever you want to speak with) Anuman ang gusto mong iparating… (whatever you want send) Hangga’t nariyan ang Globe, Abot mo ang mundo.. (whenever Globe is there, you can reach the world)..”

That whole quote is broken down into 6 pages, with each page showing people holding a blue sphere with each of the icons inside them. In the end spread all the icons converge inside one sphere thus completing the Globe logo. “This is Globe life” according to my friend. Typing the campaign words brings a smile to my face… rebrandings should always be done this way. Giving an idea of the spirit of their brand and maybe an insight as to what they were thinking when redesigning their logo.

I showed the logo to my friend and fellow designer while I was talking to him over skype. His first reaction was exactly the same as mine: “yikes! ang pangit.” I guess the logo takes time getting used to. I thought that they tried to do a Unilever. Which is a very risky proposition if you ask me. It worked for Unilever, having so many icons that form a U, because they have such a diverse number of products in their portfolio. Globe cannot claim to have so many products, they are really just in fixed and mobile telecom. The icon seems to not scale well and maybe even doesn’t work well in black and white. But on the upside, it does look very “up and now”, following the lead of UPS and AT&T. It almost looks like a Japanese or Koren brand. Question is though if it sacrificed timelessness for trendiness?

The Globe rebrand was done by an foreign company, so that they can keep the rebranding a secret until the launch. They had also changed the typeface of Globe from Gill Sans to a friendlier, softer typeface. Thus projecting a renewed spirit and vibrancy. My friend tells me that there will be a new billboard up, I’m guessing it will be in the most prominent area in the metro: EDSA. In the end, no matter how bad the logo may be, if enough campaigns and repetition is poured into building it and stamping it in the minds of the consumers, it may still succeed.

Posted in Crit, Design, Seen |

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