People Brands I: Michael Jordan

Trying to find articles, links, anything, showing me that people indeed are the first step to a brand, and that it is all that other people are looking for, this might be a sort of proof. enter: Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan is straight bangin’
February 12th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

…Anyways, Jordans are sort of the high-end epoch of basketball footwear, but you may not know that even though hoops shoe sales are on the decline, Jordan is flat out dominating the market. From Darren Rovell at CNBC:

In January, Powell notes the performance basketball shoe category was down 30 percent and the usually strong retro basketball shoe category saw a 25 percent decline.

But in all this is one amazing note from Powell:

“Top sellers (in basketball shoes) were ALL Jordan styles, led by the Retro 8 ($137), the Spiz’ike ($173), The Air Force 1/Jordan 12 hybrid ($144), the Melo M4 ($118), the Big Fund ($108) and the Collezione 13/10 combo pack ($307).”

Yes. You got that right. Michael Jordan played his last game in April 2003 and yet he’s still tearing it up in 2008. In fact, about 40 of the top 50 basketball signature shoes in 2007 were Jordan styles and the Jordan brand is a $800 million brand….

Found at:
We Are the Postmen

A Great Logo Must…

Follow Basic Design Principles
Be Functional
Represent the Company
Be Unique

What Makes a Great Logo?

Another important trait of good logos is the the ability to stand out against the crowd. Copycat logos are destined to fail or be confusing to the consumer. Usually they will result in a loss in sales. When Pepsi Cola had a similar logo to the already established Coca-Cola, it suffered in the competition between the two soft drink companies. Only when Pepsi switched their brand to something unique did they see a major increase in sales.

What IS a logo I

Let’s start of with what a logo is.
A nice definition I found of what a logo is NOT was made by Stephanie at What Is A Logo?
Some nice little excerpts:

First, and probably most important (I see this constantly, and I have requests for this constantly.)A logo is NOT a Photograph. No, you can’t take a picture of your dog with your digital camera and have that be your Pet-Grooming logo. No, stock clipart is not logo material either. If you’re confused on this concept, take your magnifying-glass tool, and zoom in as much as you can on your project. If there are little square pixels, it’s time to start over.

SIMPLIFY. SIMPLIFY. SIMPLIFY. I can’t stress this enough. We all know the KISS method, (keep it simple, stupid) – but many times designers (and myself) forget to apply it to logo design. Count your elements.

Your logo will NOT tell your story. Your logo is NOT YOUR BRAND. When you create a logo for a company (whether that be for yourself or for another client), remember that your logo is not your brand; it is -representing- your brand.