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London 2012 new logo fails to impress
05/06/2007 |
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To some it looked like a graffiti tag, to others like a mosaic of beer mats, but to the organisers of the London 2012 Olympics the pink, blue, green and orange emblem unveiled yesterday is the most significant milestone since winning the bid nearly two years ago. It is also the key to raising hundreds of millions of pounds.
When London last staged the games in 1948, posters showed an iconic image of a discus thrower superimposed over Big Ben and the houses of parliament. The £400,000 logo for 2012 is designed for a different age, described by creators as dynamic, modern and flexible - suitable for use online and on mobile phones by a generation at ease with new media.
The first feedback from that digital world last night was not altogether encouraging. Within a few hours, an online petition calling for the logo's replacement had gathered more than 3,000 signatures, and websites and television news channels were inundated with almost universally hostile opinions about the design.
Stephen Bayley, founder of the Design Museum, described it as feeble, a "puerile mess, an artistic flop and a commercial scandal", while message boards condemned it as a "broken swastika".
Created by the brand consultants Wolff Ollins, the logo emerged after eight months of consumer-testing by focus groups. It appears in one of four brand colours built around a jagged, chunky jigsaw-style version of the number 2012, and bears the word London and the rings.
Lord Coe, chairman of London 2012, said the brand - which replaces the ribbon representing the Thames weaving through the word London - was designed to show that 2012 would be "everyone's games". "There will be more opportunities than ever to participate, be inspired by and be part of 2012," he said.
The point was rammed home at the launch at The Roundhouse, Camden, north London, with a star-studded line-up of sports stars on the stage, including the double Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes, Britain's tennis No 1, Andy Murray, the Paralympic champion Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson and Chelsea FC's manager, Jose Mourinho.
There were big-screen messages of support too from Tony Blair, David Cameron and Sir Menzies Campbell. Mr Blair, said: "When people see the brand, we want them to be inspired to make a positive change in their life. London 2012 will be a great sporting summer, but will also allow Britain to showcase itself."
London's biggest challenge is to enthuse younger generations with the Olympic ideals. Jacque Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, said the brand captured the essence of the 2012 games: "To inspire young people around the world through sport and the Olympic values."
Beyond the grandiose ambitions for the games, there was also a harsher commercial imperative behind the presentation for an invited audience of 1,000 Olympic stakeholders, advertising agencies, potential sponsors and media representatives. The organising committee has to raise £2bn from the private sector to stage the games, on top of the £9.3bn public sector funding package being used to build the Olympic Park and venues. Chris Townsend, commercial director of London 2012, hopes the new logo will help secure more top-tier sponsors.
He said it would also kickstart the process of selling £750m of merchandise, with T-shirts on sale shortly. "You need the brand to bring the merchandise alive," he said. "It is designed as a proper consumer brand rather than a corporate brand you've seen in other games and it will stand alongside all the other leading sports brands."
Paul Deighton, chief executive of London 2012, said it was a crucial day on the road to the games. "It really helps us with the sponsors and it will be a great help in getting people excited about the games." He said the new emblem was "dynamic, modern and flexible, reflecting a brand-savvy world where people, especially young people, no longer relate to static logos."
Tessa Jowell, the Olympics minister, said the logo was "very edgy, very imaginative". She added: "I hope kids will see it is a badge of honour and a badge of ambition."
While the initial public reaction appeared unfavourable, the logo was at least supported by marketing experts at the launch. Michael Parker, chairman of Team Saatchi, said: "It is powerful, energetic and dynamic and what it has in particular is a sense of movement that means it can capture the activeness and the spirit of the Olympics." Mr Parker, who competed for Britain in the high hurdles in the 1964 and 1968 Olympics, added: "It is not a passive logo, it is larger than life."
(Source: Guardian.co.uk)
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