I had to laugh when I read the story in Business week about “Xerox gets a brand makeover.” Written by some wanker who obviously did no research and just regurgitated the company press release. It talks about this being the first branding change since the Chermayeff design of the sixties. Not true mate. In the eighties, Landor and Associates did a digital X which was supposed to be pixilated, but look like a fucked up and badly broken font. They also changed the name of the company from… “Xerox – The Document Company” to “The Document Company – Xerox.” Fucking brilliant… Well worth the $3 million, Landor conned them into paying. Obviously, it didn’t make a bit of difference. To this day they are still referred to as, “Xerox – The Copier Company.” Xerox also maintains an army of lawyers to stop people from using the word Xerox as a verb. Wouldn’t you think they would want that? Still, this is the company that invented everything and gave it all away. Wankers!
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Oh yes... That'll sell a lot of stuff. What's the marble for, by the way?
“Xerox—the company that launched Microsoft and Apple company.”
Posted by: bg | January 08, 2008 at 10:27 AM
When I clicked on the Businessweek story and realized the byline was David Kiley who is notorious for NEVER checking facts I wasn't surprised..this guy kinda just writes "stuff" and the truth be damnned....if he likes you, fine, if he decides he doesn't - and that's a rather large universe - look out...not surprised to see the byline of David Kiley...he's a blowhard jerk...Having a guy like that at Businessweek is, at best, a bit risky.....my hunch is that his editor has heard from more than one lawyer during Dave's tenure...
Posted by: oncegrey | January 08, 2008 at 10:51 AM
C'mon George, you know that marble represents their global presence (compare it to the forlorn GlobalBuzz logo). Remember about 15 or 20 years ago when NBC spent $10s of millions to come up with an iconographic symbol? It turned out that a lumber yard somewhere out west was using the same exact logo that they paid a design student about a hundred bucks to design. I laughed so hard I cried into my Kleenex, er, generic facial tissue. Jello anyone?
Posted by: Auntie Christ | January 08, 2008 at 11:04 AM
I can't place it but somebody else is using a Very similar logo. I think a service or agency in the digital space.
Posted by: kypar | January 08, 2008 at 01:14 PM
That's not a marble. It's a bocce ball.
Posted by: theo kie | January 08, 2008 at 02:14 PM
Damn if that globe logo looks like something I know but can’t recall where I saw it. Tellin ya, the Web 2.o aesthetic is the equivalent of the pantsuit.
Hmmmm, I know. Pant. Suit. HEY!
Pantsuit!
Hopefully, it too will die.
Posted by: bg | January 08, 2008 at 11:47 PM
Didn't Grey used to have an orange ball as a logo?
Posted by: anonymous | January 09, 2008 at 12:43 PM
Yes. Grey did have an orange ball as it's logo....
Posted by: oncegrey | January 09, 2008 at 03:03 PM
Yes. Grey did have an orange ball as it's logo....
Posted by: oncegrey | January 09, 2008 at 03:04 PM