Branding has always mystified me. I’ve never been entirely sure I understand why companies create the logos and brand names they do, to objectify their identities and those of their products and services. Pros call it a science, I say it’s at least a little magic…
Kellogg’s kills off iconic 117-year-old brand
The venerable breakfast cereal company previously announced it will be splitting its business between ‘North American Breakfast Cereal Products’ and ‘Global Snacking Products’. The former will be known as ‘WK Kellogg Co’ and the latter, ‘Kellanova’.
First of all, I don’t understand why they feel they have to do that. There must be some business advantage to having two completely separate businesses. But I don’t see it. I don’t see any advantage in having two closely related business identities from the consumer point of view, either. But I’m not a branding pro.
WK Kellogg Co’ apparently pays homage to the original Kellogg’s company, founded by Dr.Kellogg more than a century ago , when he invented the Corn Flake at his health farm in Battle Creek, Michigan.
“The name Kellanova signals the Company’s ambition for the future, building on the strong brand equity and legacy built over the past 117 years as Kellogg Company,” said Steve Cahillane, Kellogg Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and future Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kellanova.
“The ‘Kell’ overtly recognizes our enduring connection to Kellogg Company, while ‘anova’, which combines ‘a’ and the Latin word ‘nova’, meaning ‘new’ signals our ambition to continuously evolve as an innovative, next generation, global snacking powerhouse. The Kellanova logo retains the iconic Kellogg Company ‘K’ to intentionally connect to our heritage and the strong foundation that got us to where we are today. The forward curved and extended ‘v’ embodies our forward momentum as we embark on this next chapter.”
Got it?
The ‘WK Kellogg Co’ and ‘Kellanova’ identities will start to become visible ‘on the street’ by the end of this year.
‘Drink Water’ now more than Dr.’s advice
For the stuck-up, sticky-beak editor of the Sunday Times newspaper back in the late 1950s, James Bond creator Ian Fleming had a great sense of humour.
When Bond strolls into a Jamaican brothel early in his début novel Dr. No, he discovers that the underge receptionist there has an amusing given name, ‘Tiffy’. He inquires. She explains. She has a dozen sisters. Her mother named all her girls after flowers. But, by the time Tiffy came along, Mom had used up all the flower names she knew, and made a Hail Mary move. ‘Tiffy’ is short for ‘Artificial’.
I don’t know how Filipino college student Drink Water V. Rivers got his name. Except, maybe, that his Mom was especially impressed by her doctor’s advice.
Nevertheless, a classmate of DW’s recently posted a photo of his Student ID card on Instagram and it went viral. In a wink, DW had been contacted, and contracted, by Gatorade as the face of its new brand.
Whether this story is entirely legit or not, it’s fun. We’re told that DW doesn’t always drink water, and when he doesn’t, he drinks Gatorade. Next best thing, etc., etc.
“I’m loving my name because, as we were told in my advertising class, this is my branding. One of the key factors in good advertising is good branding and its impact, and I think it resonates with my name, as people are amazed by my name,” Drink Water told Mashable.com.
As the face for the sports drink’s new ‘Gatorade No Sugar’ ad campaign, I’m sure DW is in for all the fun he can handle…
~ Maggie J.