CONSUMER PACKAGED GOODS EXERCISE

Trademark Exercise

Design Process – Stuart Werle – Feb 2/04 – 1B23

Jasmin Kwak, Maria Zubair

Television Networks
What product or service do they provide?	They provide the public with newly released movies that can be enjoyed at home, right on TV.	They provide television programming for Canadian's and provide the public with services such as movies, news and series based programs.
Who is the "target group"?	The target group is viewers from the ages of 14 and up.	Ages 18 and up
Define their positioning. For example, if they are a courier company, is their positioning based on speed or service? If they are an electronics company, is their positioning based on nationalism, culturalism, or is it a corporate positioning?	Positioning wise, TMN shows that they are a network based on culturalism.	Their positioning is based on nationalism. They are a Canadian corporation and provide information from Canada and around the globe.
How has the company's Trademark reflected what they do or what they provide?	In their original logo, they had the M in TMN look like a film script. Using that same technique, they have brought the M for movie into a space that looks like a film frame. The colour blue reflects a clean quality, and the square does not have sharp corners, save for the bottom right corner. Their font is not given a corporate look and gives it a fun feeling. It shows that they will provide a good service in television movie programming.	The colours in their Trademark show that they are a television company. The primary colours used in the television screen are red, blue and green. The shapes used to block out the letter forms also aid in giving it a truly simple, base look that might seem preschool-ish. The typography used looks very corporate and business like as well, showing that it belongs to a news company, world related issues and programming.
How have they differentiated themselves from their competition?	They have taken the idea of the film reel and manipulated it into their logo to give it an original and unique look. With a simple letter M and the blue background, and the black font below the image to state The Movie Network, they have differentiated themselves from their competition to show that they are all about movies and will only show movies.	CTV has differentiated themselves form their competition by using the television primary colours and simple shapes incorporated into their Trademark. In their 5 second in between ads, they show a well known person holding the circle in the C. This helps give the corporation an even more unique and different look.

Which Trademark is most effective based on the points listed above? Please explain why.

I think personally, that both trademarks are effective on their own part because of the points listed above. Both provide a different type of television programming and service to the public. One shows movies and is based culturally, while the other is more national and corporate/formal. Both have an equal quality of public recognition.

Comparative Trademark Analysis:

While one trademark is more movie based, the other is more national based. They both have the same qualities of providing a service to the viewing audience and have a different standing on its own. CTV is television based, the other based on movies. Their positioning is different, and their target audience varies – from the avid movie watcher to the more min-series and news related person. They are reflective of what they do – both being different yet involving the television industry.

Conclusion:

In conclusion – I enjoyed the earlier design that TMN had for their corporation, but I like the new one even better because it uses limited resources to show that it’s TMN – using a design look given to the M with the film reel. CTV, however, has left their trademark the same ever since they had begun and they continue to provide the same quality of service – recognized through their trademark. If I were to recommend changes, CTV might change their look a little bit and start a new campaign away from their shapes fitting into the letters.

Telephone Companies
What product or service do they provide?	They provide telephone service and internet access. They provide service for the customer so they have the lowest rate possible.	They provide telephone service and internet access. They provide service for the customer so they have the lowest rate possible.
Who is the "target group"?	The target group is for people and consumers of the internet service provider.	The target group is for people and consumers of the internet service provider, and for Canadian’s looking for a low rate.
Define their positioning. For example, if they are a courier company, is their positioning based on speed or service? If they are an electronics company, is their positioning based on nationalism, culturalism, or is it a corporate positioning?	Their positioning is based on speed and providing the best quality to customers. It is also based on culturalism, for people made by people.	Their positioning is based on speed and providing the best quality to customers. It is also based on nationalism, speaking “Canada” in their logo to capture Canadian’s interest.
How has the company's Trademark reflected what they do or what they provide?	The image of the human face and lines swirling around in the way that it does shows that it is a network connecting people together, and “making it simple” as their motto goes. This reflects what they provide for consumers.	“Canada” and the colours used show that it is for Canadian’s, and captures their interest. At the same time, the usage of the diamond, slivered into several “speed” lines in the middle show a sense of connectivity, and speed. It doesn’t quite clearly reflect what they provide, however.
How have they differentiated themselves from their competition?	By showing that people are connected to the network of things, differentiates them from the competition such as Sprint Canada.	They have differentiated themselves by saying that they are a Canadian company, and that is spoken through their logo. As well, they have used the Canadian colours in their design and not so “corporate” look to their text as well to attract consumer attention.

Which Trademark is most effective based on the points listed above? Please explain why.

Based on the points listed above, the most effective trademark is Bell. It gives a clearer image of what the service company provides, and how it relates in the connection of people with the network of phones and communication forms. Because of the simple trademark design image, it if effective in many ways and allows us to connect to the company and identify it immediately.

Comparative Trademark Analysis:

Bell and Sprint Canada are both Canadian companies, but Sprint stresses the word “Canada” with it in their trademark and uses the Canadian colours to show it as well. While Bell uses a simple, more graphical use of showing how their servicing products will promote and reach out to the people and community, Sprint overdoes it and makes some to no sense with their graphical usage in their trademark.

Conclusion:

In my conclusion – Bell does a better job than what Sprint Canada does with their trademark based on the above criteria. What I can recommend to Sprint to make their trademark be more effective is to change their “design” image and use something that’ll show something more effective and something that makes more sense too. Although the diamond looks effective, it doesn’t show anything that has to do with networking, in my opinion, besides the look of “speed” given by the lines through it.

Appliances
What product or service do they provide?	GE standing for “General Electrics” shows that they provide appliance products and will give the best in service.	Maytag provides customers with appliance product services.
Who is the "target group"?	The target group is for people from ages 30 and up, but can apply to anyone who uses appliances.	The target group is for people from ages 20 and up, but can apply to anyone who uses appliances.
Define their positioning. For example, if they are a courier company, is their positioning based on speed or service? If they are an electronics company, is their positioning based on nationalism, culturalism, or is it a corporate positioning?	GE has taken on a corporate but cultural position at the same time to show that they will give the best in quality, with the way that their trademark looks.	Maytag shows a more cultural positioning than a corporate and national position. They have a simple look and this gives it a casual, attractive look for younger buyers.
How has the company's Trademark reflected what they do or what they provide?	The trademark reflects a sophisticated and classical look having used the black and white. Their logo, GE, is given an antique look by using a cursive writing type face. The image of waves shows that they provide “washing” appliances.	The trademark image that they have used is simple, yet has the symbol of washer waves indicated to show that they provide washing appliances. The logo (text) MAYTAG is given a serif font to feel corporate but casual at the same time.
How have they differentiated themselves from their competition?	The company has given themselves the old, classical antique look to differentiate themselves from the newer companies. They have been around for a very long time and are the leading in appliance services and products.	By keeping simple with their design trademark, they have allowed themselves to have a fresh, new look. Their colours have been used in continuation into their advertisement with the old men in blue, delivery suits. Attempting to capture the new demographic with a touch of classic quality, gives it a new sense of humor to the new generation.

Which Trademark is most effective based on the points listed above? Please explain why.

I think that GE is most effective because they are capturing the essence of a product that has been around for many decades and are, at the same time, giving it a new classical look and feel to it. Because of the points listed above, they are quite different and have a very antique look to their trademark. I like how they have used the waves to create a feel of decoration around the letters, which make it very effective and decorative.

Comparative Trademark Analysis:

While GE is giving a classical look to their trademark and products, Maytag is giving their products a new and fresh look. With the qualities of classic versus the new designer look, they both have an appearance of their own. They both have a cultural look and capture the public’s interest this way.

Conclusion:

In my opinion, the trademark that performs the best based on the above criteria is GE. Because of the points indicated, they are different and have an antique look to their products.

For GE- I would not recommend changing anything because their trademark is very effective and very enjoyable to look at. Anyone would want to buy a product with that trademark on it. Whereas for Maytag, I would suggest that they design something better for the public. Because they are giving their products such a simple look, it should look a little more complex that just waves that wash items. My recommendation is to get rid of the water waves and play around with a more corporate, and national look.

Electronics

What product or service do they provide?

Audio, Video, Television, Mobile and Accessories.

They provide their services to different locations, with warranties.

TV, Video and Audio, Computers and Related Products, Home appliances, and Phone and Fax Machines, Business Products.

They provide the services for different locations around the world for each of their products.

Who is the "target group"?

Their targeting group is between mid 20's to 30's age group.

The target group would be the ages between 30's to 40's.

Define their positioning. For example, if they are a courier company, is their positioning based on speed or service? If they are an electronics company, is their positioning based on nationalism, culturalism, or is it a corporate positioning?

There positioning based on their end user. It is more corporate based and shows a bolder look with sharp edges. It’s based solely on the company and product based.

There positioning would be based on end user. They show speed in their service, yet at the same time have a more cultural position to their company.

How has the company's Trademark reflected what they do or what they provide?

This Trademark doesn’t really reflect what they do, or what they provide. Since their Trademark is just the name of this company with thick bold capitalized letters, it is not really relevant to their function. However, it is attractive to the viewers from the clear sense trademark

This Trademark reflects the functional aspects. SAMSUNG is an electronics company which is related to the speed of moving forward with all the development of technology. By having the slight slanting background, it creates visual interest and is effective to the viewers.

How have they differentiated themselves from their competition?

It has big bold lettering, and has the bright colour of red ;( Canada JVC) that is connected with the colour of the Canadian flag, which is red. However, different countries have different colours of this trademark.

They differentiated themselves from their competition by putting the background colour with unique shapes, which is ellipse shape, which creates the eye movement for the viewers.

Which Trademark is most effective based on the points listed above? Please explain why.

Samsung’s Trademark is effective based on the points listed above, because the design of this trademark is relevant to the function of this company. Also, it has more visual attractions compared to JVC’s Trademark, such as font, and the colours of the Trademark.

Comparative Trademark Analysis:

I think each Trademark has their own unique style of design. JVC has big bold lettering that everybody can easily see and the colour of lettering is interesting, because it has different colours of trademark for different countries. (ex; Canada JVC has colour red-resembles the colour of flag; nationality) The SAMSUNG trademark gives more of icon looks compared to JVC. It has certain background looks with the colour of blue, which keeps their own company identity.

Conclusion:

SAMSUNG Trademark performs the best based on above criteria, the circle shape of background leads the eye movement for the viewers, and by making the colour of lettering as white, (the reversing of the background colour and lettering) gives more interesting visual effect.

JVC Trademark could be improved by putting more characteristics of what they are selling, and give more idea of general ideas or icon looks to it.

Vehicles/Cars

What product or service do they provide?

This company provides the passenger cars, MPV, Camper vans, Vans, Trucks, and Buses.

This company provides passenger cars and Vans, such as Accent, Sonata, Elantra, XG350, Tiburon, and Santa Fe.

Who is the "target group"?

The targeting of this group would be more of older generations, or groups who have a lot of people to carry on, the ages between 30's to 50's. Since it is Benz, and they also have trucks and buses, this targeting group would be people who are needed for the works.

The targeting of this group would be ages between 20's to 40's. Since they have sports car and more luxury cars, and passenger cars, their targeting group would be younger generations to the middle age groups (family cars).

The positioning of trademark is based on the functioning of the car – visual and more cultural.

The positioning of this trademark is showing its speed function. By putting the letter H tilting from the left side to right, it is positioning the function of the car in this manner.

How has the company's Trademark reflected what they do or what they provide?

This Trademark is reflected on the shape of the handle of the car which is very unique, because it is relevant to the product and is a very sharp image that gives a very strong image of the trademark.

This Trademark is reflected on the name of the company. They used the first letter of H from Hyundai as their Trademark. Rather than have the letter H on its own, they slightly squeezed the letter and the circle around the icon which makes it very effective and gives a strong image.

How have they differentiated themselves from their competition?

This trademark has differentiated themselves by the unique icon of the design itself. By having the image reveal a part of a car, it also gives a sharp feeling.

This trademark has differentiated themselves by using the initial letter of the name of this company.

Which Trademark is most effective based on the points listed above? Please explain why.

I think that Hyundai’s Trademark is most effective, even though Mercedes Benz is more relevant to the actual image of their product. However, Hyundai’s Trademark has more of a visual effect to the viewers, and is a more interesting design which controls the viewer’s eye movement. Mercedes Benz has a static icon.

Comparative Trademark Analysis:

The Mercedes Benz has a sharp and strong design, and also has the image of the product itself. However, the icon is too static so it loses visual interest from the viewers. On the other hand, Hyundai’s icon has an interesting shape for its icon, and it has a clear sense of the company at the same time.

Conclusion:

Hyundai’s Trademark performs the best by both its quality of representing their company as well as the product of the car itself.

Mercedes Benz Trademark could improve with the idea of resembling their company rather than the function of product itself.

Internet

What product or service do they provide?

This product provides the access of internet website browsing through this company.

This product provides excess of internet website browsing.

Who is the "target group"?

The target group is for anybody who uses internet services. However, since it is an American company, it would be directly related to American users.

The target group is, internationally, anyone who uses the internet. (The company Microsoft is internationally recognized, so it is internationally used.)

This product is positioned to the Online company based on nationalism.

This product is positioned online based on their technical (internet) users.

How has the company's Trademark reflected what they do or what they provide?

This Trademark has reflected the name of the company, ‘America Online’. Since it has a triangular shape and the circle inside of triangle, it provides the image of A, as America, and O as the Online.

This Trademark has reflected on the name of product, which is Explorer as well. However, this has more of a visual effect that the E is representing the wide world and the speed itself, rather than the initials of the name of company.

How have they differentiated themselves from their competition?

They differentiate themselves by their own unique design of icon, which has the interesting shape of “o” inside of the triangle.

They differentiate themselves by having a unique design of icon, using the “e” with an ellipse around it.

Which Trademark is most effective based on the points listed above? Please explain why.

Microsoft Internet explorer is most effective because it has both the quality of the representing company, at the same time it is representing the function and quality of their product.

Comparative Trademark Analysis:

Both products have the same functional aspects, which are providing internet services. However, AOL is an American company so their Trademark is based on the image of initial from the America, which is most likely used in America, even though it should be internationally used. Internet Explorer’s Trademark is designed for everybody, which is unique and it also represents the Earth look with the colour of blue. Also the spin going around the letter E is every effective in order to resemble the idea of speed and use of internet and networking communication.

Conclusion:

Microsoft Internet Explorer has the best Trademark which has a lot of characteristics with a very simple image for their Trademark. It is internationally used by a lot of people and well known.

AOL could improve their Trademark by better designs for the icon itself so that everybody can be able to accept it, even though it is an American product.