Origin of the Red Bull Brand

I will always remember my first trip to Thailand! It was one of those life affirming moments, a sensory overload of experience and learning!!! Travelling has been a great way for me to experience other brands and how consumers interact with them on a daily basis. Brands that I have never seen before visiting that country. Brands that are like the ones I grew up with but different! I love it. 

One of the most confusing for me was seeing what look liked the Red Bull brand, but when I tasted the product, it wasn't fizzy and was a lot thicker and more like a syrup. It seemed stronger in it's effects and they were sellking T shirts everywhere with the two bull branding on. It looked like the brand, but the product was different. Over the years, I read more and started to understand why this was. The following excerpt explains why this was!

I found this excerpt from global design agency, JKR's book 'Champions of Design 4', and it's a really interesting read, especially if like me, you were once confused why it tasted so differently in Thailand! The article was also featured on David Ariey's blog 'Logo Design Love.'

JKR's Champions of Design series, examines the history of some of the worlds most recognised brands. In this particular article, they feature the history and success of Red Bull. It's an absolutely fascinating story! Enjoy!

Under the leadership of Austrian brand owner Dietrich Mateschitz, Red Bull’s epic forays into art, racing, flying and even space have made the brand a global phenomenon. In terms of experience and communication, Mateschitz’s company added incalculable value to the brand. Where they didn’t add value was the design of the original Thai energy drink. And that of course, is what has added value. Sometimes, knowing when not to meddle with the magic is the thing that makes the magic itself.



In the 1970s, Red Bull was being marketed at farmers, construction workers and truck drivers in Thailand. Krating Daeng (‘Red Bull’ in Thai) was a populist drink for the working man: one that allowed you to overcome fatigue, pull a double shift, or drive all night.

It formed a long-standing association with Muay Thai (Thai kick boxing), which gave it popularity and street cred. With a potent mix of sugar, caffeine and taurine all packed up in a small medicinal brown glass bottle with a bright, colourful label, Red Bull became something of a success amongst its working-class consumer base.

It started with a humdrum business trip to Thailand for Austrian Dietrich Mateschitz. He stumbled across the drink and apparently discovered that it ‘cured’ his jet lag. In partnership with Thai inventor Chaleo Yoovidhya they launched a version of the Thai drink slightly modified to suit European tastes. The rest, as they say, is history.

Red Bull’s evolution from quirky local drink to global mega-brand is a master-class in how to execute a brilliantly joined-up communications idea across big-idea events. But it’s also a lesson in the value of restraint and sensitivity. When Mateschitz decided to launch ‘Krating Daeng’ in Austria, he was careful to retain the iconography of the brand, leaving its charging bulls virtually untouched. He recognised, perhaps, that a sense of the ‘foreign’, the exotic, the quirky and the doubtless potent would be positive associations for a new energy drink brand.

Design icons aren’t built overnight, and knowing when not to change them is a valuable skill. So now the world is richer for having two Red Bull brands that are of course, same same but different.

Did you know?

Thanks to Red Bull, its co-owner, Dietrich Mateschitz is the richest man in Austria.

Red Bull owns four football teams (based in Leipzig, Salzburg, New York and Campinas in Brazil) and two F1 outfits. Its F1 operation is said to cost the company half a billion dollars annually.

Red Bull racing hold the record for the fastest ever pit stop, timed at 1.923 seconds at the Austin GP in 2013.

As well as its famous extreme sport sponsorship, the company also promotes a paper airplane tournament called Red Bull Paper Wings.

Sainsbury's Design Studio 1962-1977

I am an avid collector of design books and on a recent trip back to the UK, I stumbled across a fantastic book containing a veritable gold mine of vintage Sainsbury’s packaging, chronicling the years 1962 to 1977.

The books forward tells the story of the author, Jonny Trunk and his search for a particular 1970 Sainsbury’s pack design for cornflakes that he had memories of from his childhood. On calling the retailers head office, he discovers that there’s a huge archive of pristine Sainsbury’s own label packaging dating back from the 1960’s and onwards. An ideal subject for a book!

There is also an essay from Emily King, which gives an insight into the relationship between the company director, forward thinking JD Sainsbury and the visionary designer Peter Dixon who founded the Sainsbury’s in house creative studio and spearheaded it’s unique pack designs.

  

 

Also of note is the important role that the company played in society. Britain was going through a period of social change in the 1960’s/70’s and the supermarket evolved with its costumers. This including working mothers who strived for quick, convenient meals to fit with their busy lives and those who had just taken their first foreign holidays and wanted more exotic ingredients. Although my family didn’t travel overseas whilst I was growing up (our holidays were in North Devon), I can still fondly remember the introduction from meat and two veg, to Indian curries and Italian spaghetti bolognese. With its use of san serif typography, bold colour and form, the packaging design represented modernity within this time of great social and economic change.

Being born in Britain in the early seventies, I had huge waves of nostalgia looking through the pages and remembering some of the distinctive designs. These works really did become the fabric of daily life in Britain. The design for the coke tin, using the company logo on a slant to represent a straw would never get through the rigid rules and guidelines set out by the brand experts of today, but somehow gives so much character and identity to the design. These days, some may see naivety from a time gone by, yet others (like me) will appreciate its concept! JD Sainsbury wasn’t always keen on the slanting of the company logo but this further emphasises the full backing that he gave to designer Peter Dixon. The book also recalls how teachers would cut out the orange discs from the cornflakes packs to represent coins whilst teaching school children about money!

  

This gem of a book currently sits in pride of place at my design studio. After being based in Cape Town for over half a decade it feels like a fantastic snap shot of design and of a changing society in a country and time for which I was born and raised. A time long before the invention of the Apple Mac and Adobe software it shows how concept rules over tools and technology! I can’t recommend this book enough.

The book is written by Jonny Trunk and published by Fuel: www.fuel-design.com

Article originally published by Todd Anderson at The Design Life

My Copy of Graphis Diagrams

In 1974 Walter Herdeg edited issue 165 of Graphis Diagrams, a square hardback book showing the scientific side of graphic design. It contains beautifully illustrated, full colour diagrams of abstract data and theres also some lovely multi layered maps that use transparent papers. The cover is a fantastic example of the modernist Swiss style of type and design. It really is a thing of beauty, an iconic classic and I once had a copy, or should I say, I may still have a copy... Somewhere! It wasn't that I forgot I had it, but instead that I was recently reminded when I turned to page 46 of Steven Heller and Veronique Vienne's fantastic book '100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design', and there it was in all it's glory, featuring in the chapter 'The Square Format!

I am not completely sure of how this book came into my life. My father was always great at picking up a bargain and may of bought it second hand for his son. My family always supported my love of everything creative. I may of even been given it, or did I buy it myself around the time I was at college. I just think that I would remember buying such a beautiful specimen of design!

 

To where it currently resides is a complete mystery to me. I have been living overseas for many years and my things are scattered in different countries, half way around the world from each other. There are probably five places where this book could potentially be and I just want it back in my life. I even did a quick search to see if I could pick up a bargain copy, but it's changing hands for hundreds of pounds (UK) these days. Im not surprised, its worth it! It just shows that you really don't know what you have until it's gone. I will hopefully someday add an addition to this post where me and my copy of Graphis Diagrams are reunited.

Bass - Trademark No1

In my Classic Brands series, I am going to feature interesting facts and a brief history to some of the world most iconic branding and packaging designs. I couldn't think of a better place to begin the series than with the worlds very first registered Trade Mark.

A great conversational piece at any dinner party is the question, ‘what was the world’s first brand identity?’ The answer is the instantly identifiable red-triangle of the Bass Pale Ale logo. This distinctive identity was registered under the United Kingdoms 1875 Trade Mark act. Due to the fact that the act actually came into effect on 1st January 1876, an employee of Bass queued outside the registrar's office for the whole of the New Years Eve night to ensure that they were the very first in line to register the trademark the following day. Thanks to the efforts of that Bass employee, Ratcliff & Gretton Ltd received the first two registrations, the Bass Red Triangle for their pale ale and the Bass Red Diamond for their stronger ale.

The Bass red triangle is such a significant brand icon that it features within a number of the worlds best known works of art and novels including Édouard Manet’s 1882' Bar at the Folies-Bergère', Pablo Picasso's 1914 'Bottle of Bass and Glass' and James Joyce’s 1922 ‘Oxen of the Sun’ episode of 'Ulysses'.

William Bass founded the company in 1777, in the English brewing town of Burton Upon Trent. At its height one quarter of all beer sold in Britain was produced in Burton on Trent. Bass Pale Ale was exported throughout the British Empire and by 1877 had become the world’s largest brewery, producing an output of over a million barrels of beer a year! In the early 20th century Bass took over a number of large breweries and in the 1960’s a merger with Charrington United Breweries made them (at the time), the largest UK brewing company. By the 1980's only three main breweries remained in Burton upon Trent, Marston's, In Coope and Bass.

In response to consumer demand for premium bottle ales, in 2013 the product was made available in a 500ml bottle size for off trade. Furthermore, the company also changed the products name to ‘Bass Trademark No.1. This fully highlighted the importance of this legendary brand and fully celebrated it's place in history as the world’s first registered trademark.

Today, the Bass pale ale brand is part of the worlds largest brewing company, the Anheuser-Busch InBev and is available in over 50 countries, on draught, in bottles and cans. Since 2005 Bass Draught has been brewed under contract by Marston’s for AB-InBev who are still based in Burton Upon Trent, however bottled products for export are now brewed at AB-InBevs own brewery in Samlesbury, except for the United States and Belgium where Bass is brewed locally.

With its simplicity of colour and form, the Bass logo is a prime example of branding at its very best. Immediately identifiable it is without doubt a pioneer of international Branding and worthy of its place as our first featured Classic Brand.

A History of the KFC Brand & the New Design!

A brief History of the Kentucky Fried Chicken brand.

Kentucky Fried Chicken was founded by Harland Sanders, who began selling chicken from his roadside restaurant in Corbin Kentucky in the 1930's. An entrepreneur, Sanders identified the potential of franchising his restaurant concept and the very first "Kentucky Fried Chicken" franchise opened in Salt Lake City in Utah in 1952 by Pete Harman who was both the owner of one of the cities largest restaurants and a good friend of Sanders.

Harman hired a sign writer named Don Anderson to work on the first restaurant, who coined the name "Kentucky Fried Chicken" creating a good product differentiator (being chicken) and a vision of southern hospitality for the brand. Harman also introduced the "bucket meal" and trademarked the phrase "Its finger Lickin' good", which over time have both played an important role within the companies identity and advertising. With my interest in branding, packaging and 1950's Americana, I was very keen to visit when I passed though Salt Lake city back in 2002.

       

Today KFC is the second largest restaurant chain with 18,875 outlets worldwide. Only McDonalds has more! So whether you like the food or not, thats an incredible business achievement and an interesting piece of history.

Harland even branded himself as Colonel Sanders and became a prominent figure in American history. KFC diversified the fast food market and challenged the popular hamburger. Saunders sold the business to a group of investors in 1964.

   

Bringing back that Heritage - The 2015 Redesign

Last year KFC began using ad agency Wieden + Kennedy. The agency hired Darrell Hammond of "Saturday Night Live" fame to play KFC's founder Colonel Sanders, who would once again become the centrepiece to all brand and marketing.

This move back to a more traditional vision for "Kentucky Fried Chicken" has been reinforced further by the recent brand and packaging re-design by New York agency Grand Army, who have brought back the famous stark red colour bars and a minimal black and white illustration of the colonel. This new look brilliantly recreates the nostalgia of the past, yet still maintains a connection to the recent looking image. The only criticisms of the redesign I have heard is that the logo does have a tendency to look a little like a stick figure with a large Colonel Sanders head. I will let you be the judge on that one!!!

The brand move on is a great example of how a visual change can help your business look somehow more genuine and homemade. I for one love what's been done for this re brand by Grand Army. Bringing back some of the companies vintage aesthetic into it's future vision is my kind of design! Well thought out and for me a lot more of a timeless solution, proving further that its often that intellectual extraction and what you don't put in to a design that can often make it a success and easier for the consumer to connect with.

     

Sandeman 255th Anniversary Design

This limited addition design to celebrate the 255th anniversary of Porto’s Sandeman is just stunning. The attention to detail used in the design by agency Volta is incredible.

I love the use of type; breaking the serif on the brand name Seixo giving it some real identity. The finish is also beautiful, employing the use of embossed lettering and illustrative elements, texture paper stock and touches of gold foil.

On my recent trip to Bologna I came across these wonderful old Vintage Sandeman bottles that I couldn't wait to share with my branding and packaging design friends! I also thought very apt addition to this post. Of note is the 1977 Queens Silver Jubilee Edition, which brought back many fantastic memories of my family and where I was born in the UK!

Vintage & Rare Collection Of Beer Packaging

This wonderful collection of vintage and rare beer packaging from all over the world can be seen at the Wild Clover micro Brewery. A veritable feast for any branding and packaging designer/vintage packaging enthusiast like myself!

The owner Ampie Kruger kindly let me take these images of the full collection of labels whilst telling me the amazing story of how it was donated to him. Apparently the original collectors wife insisted that he give this incredible treasure away!!!

Wild Clover produces four wonderful beers that I can highly recommend: Double Owl English Brown Ale, Black Dog Smokey Irish Porter, Blind Mole Crispy German Pils and Eagle Weiss Fruity Belgian Wit.

You can visit Wild Clovers micro Brewery at: Wild Clover Farm, R304, Stellenbosch, Telephone: +27 (0)21-865-2248, www.cloverfarm.co.za