Mugg & Bean rebrand
It seems to me like all the rebrands these days are surrounded by controversy and public criticism. Last November it was Pick n Pay, and last month it was Mortgage SA's turn when they rebranded as ooba.
I caught a glimpse of the new Mugg & Bean logo on tv the other night and was curious about the rebrand, but I haven't been able to find anything about it online.
Their previous logo did nothing for me - Copperplate Gothic type shaped in an arc with a yellow outline - pretty boring and hardly memorable. As bland as their menu, infact. In the new logo, they've kept the Copperplate but reduced the weight a little, removed the outline, and dropped the redundant "brand" word. I bet the change would have gone unnoticed if it weren't for the introduction of a new star above the name. But why a star?
I could understand - if they're trying to refresh their image to appeal to a trendier market and compete with the likes of Vida e Caffe - that the introduction of a unique mark to their name would go some way to breath new life into their brand. But that's just me guessing, and a solid star is just too generic. It adds zero value and says nothing about their business.
The only explanation I can conceive is that their creative team spent too little time brainstorming in their studio and too many late nights at Mavericks! Even their splash pages are strikingly similar in layout and content. ;)
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7 Comments
What interests me always is the amount of money that goes into all this corporate branding and at least half of the companies going through branding don’t arrive at a solution which is beneficial. It’s as though the companies commissioned to do the rebranding have absolutely no idea or they’re simply throwing some random ideas together and telling the client that it’s the look they should use.
Great pity!
Agree with Mokokoma & Chris above… I think a lot of the time when clients decide to rebrand, they’re usually working with a design agency that doesn’t necessarily know their brand as intimately as they should, and strange decisions get made on both sides of the boardroom table.
I love the Mavericks logo… and their advertising in general. I think it’s superb.
With increasing competition, I can understand why Mugg & Bean would want to shake up their old “rustic” image a bit; that desire has come through a bit in the last few iterations of their menus. Mugg & Bean’s new image – including TV ads – immediately make me think of Debonairs… the whole black & white thing, star…etc. Surely in business you want your brand to distinguish itself, not blend-in with others?
When the agency dropped the word “brand”, they should’ve replaced it with “bland”! I don’t get it. Why would you go black & white? If I was the client being presented with this shambles, I would’ve fired them on the spot… no second chances. I wonder if they’ll be handing out new uniforms to staff and re-doing all their interior design so that there’s some synergy… otherwise a very confusing message is going to be communicated to customers.
I have to applaud them though for not going with the clichéd steaming coffee-cup logo. Thank-you for that at least.
Vida e Caffe… they’re getting it right.
I like how Vida e Caffe have their basic Brand Guide available for download right off their home page. This really gives you a sense that they understand the importance of brand building.
Interesting you mention this. I noticed the pnp rebrand and wrote something small about it previously.
I think the new visual for M&B is an improvement, I also don’t get the star though.
The funny thing for me is that I spent Monday at Killarney, full of Mavericks girls walking around with bikinis with stars on… I’ll send pics if you want! :D (I’m a photographer, so I got some of them in the track side jacuzzi!).
mmm, funny I stumbled upon this post… I was watching the new M&B advert the other evening and wondered to myself why they rebranded…??? I’m still debating if the new look is better or worse for me, but I feel like the old look triggers the taste of the business breakfast in my mind. The new look makes me think they are starting to sell Soviet Jeans.
Other than the good breakfasts, it’s the Wireless access I get free at M&B that really drives me there… perhaps they should loose the star and rather get a mug with a wireless signal emitting steam from itself…
I think their shop re-branding is the thing to note. The old-skool feeling wasn’t keeping up with the hip new coffee places (ie Vida e cafe, Lulu, etc).
Personally I think one should look at the whole package rather than just the logo by itself. I went to the new one in Woodmead (jhb) and I liked it. Liked the cool chairs in the indoor area.
If you want to wonder what’s going on with a brand look at News Cafe. Their last add with the lightning people dancing was… I don’t know what it was. The current one with the coloured liquid is a little more interesting but abstract. Their billboard in Joburg in the last year were also a little of a puzzle, there was no common ground between the ad on TV and the billboards with ‘trendy young’ people posing. I guess the posers are a clear indication of the crowd that gathers at News Cafe, atleast in Rivonia ; )
Another puzzle to me is the Woolies cofee shops, some just work while others look like a corner coffee shop. I think the Woolies coffee shop falls between the cracks of the other strong areas of their business and store in general. Maybe it’s just a conveient stop just before or just after shoppping for a quick bite – much like McDonalds.
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24 March 2008
Mokokoma09:29 am
Interesting views, personally I think most clients are happy just as long as their project was done by a reputable creative agency.
Or it could also be that most clients are not that ‘creativity’ demanding, you can’t get away with meaningless and ineffective design solutions as long as you can sell your work to the client.
Stop complementing their (Mugg + Bean) creative team, i think they didn’t brainstorm at all.