New image for THE National Trust

[Penners]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6416447/National-Trust-rebranded-by-Olympics-firm.html

The National Trust is to drop the "The" from its title. This is (and I quote Sue Wilkinson, Director of Marketing): "...about trying to update us a bit and come across as a little bit warmer and friendlier and a little less formal."

Well, that was money well spent.

I'm a long-time member of the NT (as I suspect many on this forum are). Nobody asked me whether I wanted the organisation to be "a little less formal", or presented in brighter colours (as recommended by some marketing agency, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds). Frankly, given the shortage of funds for the maintenance of the NT's existing building and land stock, I can think of better uses for that money.

And the first time that I'm welcomed to an NT property with the words "Hey, dude", my membership card will be torched.

 

[robgil]

but people will still always call them 'the' national trust , it just wont sound right unless you put a 'the' in front.

that house belongs to national trust. that house belongs to 'the' national trust. see?

i suppose it will save a few quid on ink for the letter headings etc.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Penners - I read this in today's Telegraph and immediately thought of you.

We should chain ourselves to the railings of a suitable THE National Trust property until they recant. Can anyone suggest such a property?

First it is our apostrophes, then it is our definite articles. I worry where it will all end... next they'll be abandoning word order as signifying meaning and we'll end up with "Trust National"!

 

[chuckey]

Nothing wrong with the present logo and colours, they reflect the traditional way of doing things.
As there is only one natonal trust, I think it should have the "the". To try and prove the point. How about "I am going to a station it is owned by Railtrack" viz-a-viz " I am going to a house it is owned by National trust". same construction, but I think the difference is that "national" and "trust" are not nouns, hence the definite article is needed to change them into a noun?
One thing these make-overs artist over look is that the colours that some times get choosen are from a printers palette rather then standard BSS colours. I worked for such a firm that was made over. The paint that we had to buy for the sign writers and external decorators cost over £100/gal(1991) !!! due to having to mixed specially. Gawd knows how much it all cost, then we were taken over and it all started again.
Frank

 

[Flyfisher]

but people will still always call them 'the' national trust , it just wont sound right unless you put a 'the' in front.

that house belongs to national trust. that house belongs to 'the' national trust. see?

or . . . . that's a National Trust house ? (innit :wink: ).

Rebranding exercises usually seem a waste of time and money to me, but it's a lucrative business for 'image consultants'.

I once worked for Digital Equipment Company, a large (2nd to IBM) computer company, now defunct. Their logo was a blue design based around the word 'DIGITAL' and was widely recognised within the industry. During the time I was with them they changed the logo. At first glance it was identical except the blue colour had been changed to a shade of maroon. I can't remember all the reasons why maroon was better than blue, although I'm sure you can imagine that the 'image consultants' had reams of justification. But the pièce de résistance was that the 'square dots' above each 'i' in the original logo had been changed to round dots. Again, I can't remember the full reasoning (I was probably falling asleep in the launch meetings by that point) but I'm sure it was worth all the millions it cost to make the change.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

I have NT guidebooks with at least three different versions of the oak leaf symbol (from c.1950, c.1975 and current), and their current typeface wasn't even invented until until the Trust was 40 years old, so they must have "rebranded" in the past.

I suspect the problem is them making a song and dance about it, thereby inviting a backlash. Though I haven't seen the new look and it could just be a disastrous piece of design, in pure design terms.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

The new look is here (refreshing the page will cycle through the colour schemes)

http://brandcentre.nationaltrust.org.uk/login/default.aspx?ReturnUrl=/Default.aspx

(Thanks Nem)

It's not that vile, but I'd rather they'd centred the text instead of left-justified, especially since the (unchanged?) logo fills a near-square. All capitals would have worked better than caps and lower case - but both these points would, if followed, make the image perhaps too "formal" for what they want to do, which is possibly to concern themselves with a new generation of potential members. The omission of the "The" matters least - in terms of a logotype. The typeface itself is rather too bland and inoffensive for my taste. I give it five years before the next makeover.

 

[Schoolmarm]

It won't let me in. Is that because I cancelled my membership in a fit of pique years ago? Something to do with hunting.

 

[Penners]

It's not that vile

I agree, but the phrase "damning with faint praise" seems appropriate here. If an expenditure of hundreds of thousands of pounds has managed to achieve no more than "not that vile", then I stand by my original point. The money could have been a bloody sight better spent.

And I agree with all your typographical observations.

 

[Penners]

It won't let me in. Is that because I cancelled my membership in a fit of pique years ago?

Ah, now we see the truth of it.

If you hadn't cancelled your membership, the extra income would have enabled them to afford a decent rebranding job.

Shame on you, Marm.

 

[Schoolmarm]

:lol: :lol:

Wipes coffee off screen :lol:


Seriously though, is that link only for members?

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I think it is a resources link for some kind of NT co-ordinators to produce literature/artwork using NT logos, typeface, etc, etc.

However, if you refresh the page you can see the new logo in different colours.

 

[Schoolmarm]

Thanks Robin 8)

 

[Penners]

is that link only for members?

Well, it let me in without asking for my membership credentials.

I bet that never happens at 'The Spearmint Rhino'. (Whatever that is. )