#branding

#branding

Lawyers don't typically earn the title "beloved," but Anh Phoong isn't your typical lawyer. The Sacramento-based personal injury attorney has become a cherished minor celebrity around the Bay Area for her ubiquitous presence on billboards adorned with the cheeky slogan "Something wrong? Call Anh Phoong." The clever rhyme, along with Phoong's playful social media presence, has earned her invites to appear at club nights at the Stud in San Francisco and inspired countless Halloween costumes.

According to a recent blog post, the San Francisco-based a16z launched an internal branding and marketing arm called the "New Media team" several months ago in order to provide founders with "the legitimacy, taste, brandbuilding, expertise, and momentum they need to win the narrative battle online." This team will embed itself within portfolio companies when necessary, per the blog post.

That uniform wasn't just a coincidence; it was a deliberate part of the experience. It likely projected competence, professionalism, and trust before the employee ever said a word. In today's competitive market, a company's image is one of its most valuable assets. We spend thousands on branding, websites, and marketing, but often overlook one of the most powerful and consistent brand touchpoints: our own team.

The name is Mamdani: M.A.M.D.A.N.I. When Zohran Mamdani corrected Andrew Cuomo for mispronouncing his name at the New York City mayoral debate, it was immediately turned into a viral TikTok sound: remixed with Gwen Stefani's " Hollaback Girl." The sound has been featured in user-generated content surpassing 100 million views on TikTok. Remarkably, Mamdani was polling at 1% a year ago, and few New Yorkers recognized him. By the end of the campaign, Zohan Mamdani had mobilized a grassroots movement of 100,000 volunteers.

The streaming services have duked it out on several fronts over the years - battling to put out countless movies and TV shows, grow subscribers domestically and internationally, gain live sports and television, and deliver ad-supported tiers to customers. But these streamers are just as defined by how often they reinvent themselves, as with the rebranding of HBO Max a.k.a. Max a.k.a. HBO Max and Apple TV's recent choice to drop the plus.

In today's hyper-competitive marketplace, businesses are no longer judged solely by the quality of their products or services. Instead, they're evaluated on how they make people feel. This emotional connection - built through clear, consistent, and compelling branding - can mean the difference between fleeting visibility and lasting impact. Modern consumers want more than transactions; they seek meaningful experiences. They're increasingly drawn to brands that align with their values and offer authenticity over perfection.

These skulls, though, are only the latest in a decades-long trend that, according to United States Patent and Trademark Office records, saw the rate of skulls and skeletons in American logos increase by a factor of almost seven from the 1980s to the 2010s. Throughout the last decade, skulls and skeletons appeared in nearly one of every 200 new U.S. logos, a number that has dipped only slightly in the 2020s.

"When used light and small, it's super precise and premium; in its big, fat, expressive italic form, it looks more bold and a bit weird," Tom explains. Overall the tone of voice is packed with wit and in-jokes, from its copywriting down to its new file name, .af - which apart from being on every file you export from the programme, is also used in myriad, tongue-in-cheek ways across merch, such as its "Sketchy.af" notebook.

Simply put: Colors drive emotions, and emotions drive purchasing behavior. The brain processes visuals faster than text, so colors trigger subconscious associations that shape perception before other messages make their way in. For consumers connecting with a brand or product, color helps them instantly categorize products and streamlines their decision-making. It happens fast- customers form judgments about products within the first 90 seconds of interaction, with up to 90% of that assessment based solely on color.

In the competitive world of retail, every detail counts. While product quality is paramount, one of the most powerful levers you have to attract attention, build trust, and drive sales is your retail labelling. The label is often the first interaction a customer has with your product - the thing they see, read, touch. An eye-catching label from CDM Labels can turn a glance into a purchase, while a dull or confusing one can leave your product overlooked.

On this week's episode, co-hosts Gabriela Barkho and Melissa Daniels get into the news of Quince dodging claims from Ugg's parent, Deckers Brands, that it unlawfully copied two of its best-selling styles. Next, they discuss the announcement from cosmetics company E.l.f that it will be offering live shopping on streaming service Twitch, and the implications for the potential resurgence of streaming in social commerce.

TikTok has announced the shortlists for its Nordic TikTok Ad Awards for 2025, highlighting a range of top ad agencies and creators that have put together some of the best performing, attention-grabbing campaigns in the app.

I was thrilled this week when Apple issued a press release announcing that its original film, F1 The Movie, starring Brad Pitt, would make its streaming debut on the company's video service December 12. But it wasn't the news about the movie that excited me. Rather, it was a small line at the end of the press release that quietly announced something else: "Apple TV+ is now simply Apple TV, with a vibrant new identity."

Here's the thing about digital marketing right now: everyone's doing it. Your potential customers wake up to hundreds of emails, scroll past thousands of adverts, and ignore countless social media posts before they've even finished their morning coffee. That's exactly why printed materials have become surprisingly effective again. When a thoughtfully designed mailer lands on someone's desk, it actually gets noticed because it's different.

When shaping Nippon's visual tone, the agency aimed to preserve the simplicity, calmness and depth of meaning inherent in matcha making, building a brand that felt loyal to its roots yet unmistakably modern - "an identity that carries the ritual of the past into the rhythm of today", Emrah summarises. To reinforce this balance the team went for a type pairing of Maison Neue Extended and Eros: "one confident, bold, and contemporary; the other, a subtle nod to traditional Japanese calligraphy", Emrah continues.

"Where The Mission Meets The Moment" - that's the message Santa Clara hopes to convey when the Super Bowl and the FIFA World Cup come to Levi's Stadium next year. The city unveiled the slogan last month in hopes of cementing Santa Clara's place on the global stage, as it prepares to host two of the biggest events in sports.

When a brand becomes iconic, simplicity is the ultimate flex.

If you haven't seen them yet, OpenAI's launched new ad campaign of short 30 seconds videos that embed AI into an idealised, warmly analog, version of the past. They're quite visually pleasing, to be honest, with a slight VHS grain and muted colours, and depict very relatable everyday scenarios like wanting to impress a girl or getting fitter. They lean hard on 80s soundtracks and cheesy movie vibes.

Variety's Future of Brand Summit, presented by Acxiom, gathered the industry's top executives, marketers, creatives and cultural leaders on Wednesday in New York for an event that explored how companies are fueling their brands with creativity, culture and community.

Spike Jonze's Gucci movie The Tiger is quite something both as a film and piece of branding. With strong acting from an ensemble cast including Demi Moore, Ed Norton, and Elliot Page, it weaves contemporary themes and a White Lotus-like atmosphere with sleek cinematography and bold brand storytelling and aesthetics.

Scotland-based law firm Shepherd and Wedderburn has recently been hit with accusations of logo plagiarism, with claims its design is strikingly similar to Serena Williams' jewellery brand. While the Tennis star has yet to comment on the controversy, the law firm has defended the design, citing the contrast of the brands in question. While logo design disputes are nothing new, rarely are they sparked by public attention. While the controversy appears entirely coincidental, it has raised questions about how the allegedly identical logo design wasn't flagged. However, with no legal action currently served, it seems the law firm is standing strong with its rebranded identity.

We all met at FSU. Lukasz [Tracz], who's one of the co-CEOs, and myself were both waiters at Olive Garden. We became best friends, and then he told me he had a twin brother and I said, Get out of here, I have a twin.