Archive for July 2012
Olympic spirit
After seven years of planning, preparation and creation the London 2012 Olympics are finally upon us. Whilst the architecture and showmanship might not be quite up there with Beijing 2008, the project has redeveloped a neglected area of London’s eastern suburbs, and built excellent stadia for the event itself and future athlete training. Many Londoners…
Read MoreScoring a winner
As a London 2012 Olympic partner and with a British diving champion as their ambassador, it was only natural that adidas created a special edition body care packaging to celebrate the games. These packs stood out to me because although they use the Union Jack, a second look reveals that the flag design simulates the…
Read MoreGold, silver, chocolate
Cadbury’s have gone the extra mile with its Olympic product and promotional activity, but one pack in particular stood out for me. When Cadbury’s Dairy Milk gave away a chocolate gold medal with a red, white and blue ribbon with their Easter egg earlier in the year it was a real winner, adding value in…
Read MoreMeet the mascots
As a big chocolate fan I was pleased to see Cadbury as the official ‘treat sponsor’ for London 2012. The brand has used its sponsorship to bring out a number of different limited edition chocolate bars over a longer period than most, launching promotions such as ‘spots v stripes’ and ‘big race’ in 2011. A…
Read MoreAll American
Olympics ‘Worldwide Partner’ Coca Cola have designed a double-sided can to support the USA Olympic Team in the London 2012 games. One side of the can has a simple typographic message stating its purpose, signed off with a neat sponsorship logo that integrates the Union Jack and Olympic rings with the coke bottle icon. The other…
Read MoreUsing your head (and shoulders)
Procter and Gamble has done a great job of letting the world know about its corporate sponsorship of the games through numerous TV campaigns. Each commercial features a simple but elegant animation of the ‘medal’ sponsorship logo, so it makes sense to include this on packaging as well. But here on a special edition pack for…
Read MoreFairy Tales
In something of a contrast to its well-groomed stablemate above, Procter & Gamble’s Fairy brand seems a bit less assured of how to project its sponsorship of the Olympics. Here on one shelf we have several levels of enthusiasm, from ‘what Olympics?’ to a special edition Gold product with the trademark walking baby replaced by…
Read MoreOlympic athletes start young
Procter & Gamble’s multi-faceted Olympic communication manages to include pretty much every consumer in the land, or at least all those for whom P&G make a product. ‘Thank You, Mum’ is a campaign fronted by its Olympic brand ambassador Paula Radcliffe, and as its title suggests it’s all about celebrating the role of mothers in family life.…
Read MoreEvery one’s a winner
Innocent are the ‘official smoothie and juice of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games’, so from such a consistently creative brand we were expecting some interesting pack designs to show off this fact. The brand hasn’t disappointed, but they clearly had so many ideas that they couldn’t choose between them. When they’re all sat…
Read MoreExtraordinary and extra ordinary
Although national flags are a bit of a challenge as the basis for innovative designs, the Union Jack lends itself more than most to being creatively ‘hacked’. Marks & Spencer’s Olympic biscuit tin and Chevler’s ‘Britannia collection’ of cup-cake cases both use clever remixes of red, white and blue to capture some properly British design wit. Sadly…
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