A B-Side BY Armin

Verisign

If you are currently surfing the internet it might be in part thanks to Verisign, a “provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world.” A good-sounding fact: “Verisign manages two of the world’s 13 Internet root servers, a.root-servers.net and j.root-servers.net, considered national IT assets by the U.S. Federal government.” Symantec recently purchased Verisign and adopted the former’s logo as their own.

Thanks to Steven Lacoursiere for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

Apache Corporation

Established in 1954 Apache Corporation is a an energy company — listed in the Fortune 500 — that “explores for, develops and produces natural gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids.” New logo designed by Houston, TX-based Origin.

A B-Side BY Armin

Whirlpool Corporation

Whirlpool Corporation is the parent company of home appliance consumer brands Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, Jenn-Air, and others. Now in sans serif.

Thanks to Brandon Kish for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Novabase to Expand, Grow Appendage

Established in 1989, Novabase is the leading company in IT services, consulting, and implementation. It has 2,000 employees and revenues of over 292 million Euros. A hybrid of companies like IBM, Accenture, and EDS as our Portuguese tipster explained. Self-admittedly “Big in Portugal, but small in the world” Novabase is looking to expand its presence and recognition around the world. This month they introduced a new identity designed by Lisboa-based Albuquerque.

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Follow-Up BY Armin

Follow-up: Sonae

This past April we reported on the redesign of Sonae, one of Portugal’s biggest corporations running a number of consumer products and services. The redesign, executed by Lisboa-based Ivity, was met with plenty of negative criticism from myself (I called it “annoying and unpleasant”) and our readers (racking up an impressive 88% of 1,603 votes in the “Bad” category). With a little time it seems the Sonae website has transformed into something more palatable and Ivity has provided us with a movie that explains the genesis, execution, and application of the new identity. Take a look and see if your opinion changes.

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Opinion BY Armin

Global Splat

Founded in 1972, PRISA (Promotora de Informaciones, S.A — Information Promoter, Inc.) is “the world’s leading Spanish and Portuguese-language business group in the fields of education, information and entertainment.” Based in Madrid, Spain, PRISA is present in 22 countries and handles important publishing enterprises like El País, Spain’s leading general interest newspaper, and publishing houses Santillana and Alfaguara. Additionally, PRISA publishes major magazines like Rolling Stone and Cinemanía, runs over a dozen radio stations, and a handful of TV channels. Over the weekend, PRISA made the announcement that Liberty Acquisition Holdings, a New York-based investment company will provide $1.2 billion to the company and in return it will get majority ownership, helping PRISA come out of a $6.2 billion debt. Corporate rebrandings are perfect for signaling a positive outlook moving forward and PRISA has done just that.

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Opinion BY Armin

For Immediate Release: The Transformer

Founded in 1972 by William D. Novelli and Jack Porter in Washington DC, Porter Novelli was started to “apply marketing to social and health issues.” Today, with 90 offices in 60 countries, Porter Novelli is one of the leading public relations firms in the world balancing its original scope of clients as well as working with consumer brands. They are responsible for projects like the Truth anti-smoking campaign and the original and new food pyramids. Earlier this month, Porter Novelli introduced a new identity designed by Interbrand.

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Opinion BY Armin

The Beers’ New Emperors

Established in 1890 with the launch of its first beer brand, Carta Blanca, Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma brewery is one of Mexico’s main breweries along with its competitor Grupo Modelo, makers of the famous Corona beer. Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma’s greatest hits include Tecate, Sol, Carta Blanca, and, probably the most well known in the U.S., Dos Equis (thank you most interesting man in the world). They also produce some of my favorite Mexican beers, Bohemia, Noche Buena, and Indio — as well as some undrinkable stuff like Coors Light and Tecate Light. To commemorate its 120th anniversary and its recent acquisition by Heineken International, Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma introduced a new logo.

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Opinion BY Clinton Duncan

E-A-D-S Spells B-E-V-E-L-S

EADS or the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, was born from the merger of the German DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG, French Aérospatiale-Matra and Spanish Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA), creating a company spanning the industries of, well, as the name rather plainly suggests, Aeronautics (aeroplanes), Defence (things that go boom) and Space (satellites, rockets, space craft). It’s the Aeronautics division, branded as Airbus, that we would all be most familiar with, but EADS also brands its various hi-tech creations Eurocopter, Cassidian, Astrian and Dassault. Airbus has been the focus of most reactions to the rebrand, delivered by London-based Lambie Nairn, and it’s this business unit that seems to have lost the most in the rebranding exercise.

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Opinion BY Armin

PricewaterhouseCoopersWasALongName

The clearest picture I have of what PricewaterhouseCoopers does is of two dudes in tuxedos holding a briefcase with the envelopes that announce the winners at the Oscars. But, clearly, with 163,000 employees in 151 countries they do more than that. They are one of the “Big Four” professional services firms — the three others are Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young, and KPMG — and boast gross revenues of 26.2 billion USD (fiscal year 2009). Officially, they “provide industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to enhance value for their clients.” Yesterday was the official announcement that PricewaterhouseCoopers would be changing its name to PwC, keeping the mouthful of a name as the full name of the global organization for legal purposes. PwC also introduced a new identity created by the London office of Wolff Olins.

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