Re-design by Lippincott (?)
Everyone hates Walmart right? The majority of the people i’ve met are pretty bipartisan about it across the board. I foster no strong feelings about Walmart being good or bad, really. We’re cool, me and Walmart. BUT when the opportunity to buy a garbage can with a collapsable revolving top shows itself, i’m left with no choice. I spring for the cheaper of the 2 options. Sorry Target. Let me know when Archer Farms is ready to mass-produce plastic kitchen waste receptacles but until then we’ll always have Paris.
For all you Walmart-hating, coffee drinking, tree-hugging, human activists out there, get a load of this: In a concerted push to soften their public image, the retailer is updating its look which now features a brighter color palette, friendlier typeface, and people-centric abstraction: an interpretation of it’s trademark ’star’. Try not to be too critical. Trust me, i could talk to you about this until you’re blue in the face. It’s not worth it.
What you’re seeing is an evolution from an identity that used a boring typeface and a stiff design element to symbol with a mission. I’d like to think it’s telling us the walls are about to give way to a brand with a little humanity in store. That or more civic-minded rights for it’s employees but don’t hold your breath.
Tip-off via Brand New
Well, I can’t say that WalMart is my favorite place but maybe this leopard might have to change its spots. When 90% of consumers are asking for something coined as (CSR) Corporate Social Responsibility, even the giants listen.
More and more consumers are in charge and through the internet they can wield that power to no end. We that are in marketing and design know and see that daily.
Today, companies that get a smudge on their corporate face cannot just call PR Clean-up Crew Inc. to clean it up with and give some sparkle and shine. Today, they have to look into their corporate soul and really see that the people they sell to and their company can join to make a better world and from that go towards the classic win-win situation.
So we hope that WalMart is starting with the logo and changing its brand image from the inside out.
Comment by Marilyn Trent — Jul 13 2008 @ 2:08 pm
That’s a really thoughtful critique. I’ll agree with you. I’ve noticed that a lot of companies are turning towards more holistic human goals. I count Apple as being one of them.
Por ejemplo: They respond quickly to a lot of customer complaints. When their audience cited concerns that it’s computers were using non-eco friendly components, the company retaliated by stripping their machines of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), brominated flame retardants (BFRs), and arsenic in the glass of flat-panel displays. It launched a broad recycling program to reverse the effects of waste and residues harmfully impacting landfills all over the world. They decided to make radical changes that interface with their company ambitions because they realized they were contributing to the problem, not preventing it. In changing, they were able to show their audience a side of them that suggested they were mindful of their impact. I think this helped offset some of the ethical problems people were having in purchasing their products and it afforded them a choice between using goods that could potentially harm others.
So it would seem that the more cusomter-centric you are, the more success you’re liable to have. If you can give back to the community instead of *just* taking away from it, you’re investing your support of it’s people who also happen to be your customers. And i think people appreciate that charitable insight.
Comment by Andrew — Jul 13 2008 @ 4:24 pm
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