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Messages 1 - 30 of total 30 in this topic |
MH2
climber
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jun 18, 2013 - 06:50pm PT
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A new entrant in
There Are Two Kinds of...
Now bringing you
Dabblers and Danglers.
Climbers are danglers, according to CBC radio. I guess that's better than dabblers.
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Hoser
climber
vancouver
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Jun 18, 2013 - 07:31pm PT
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They should just call it presidents choice gear and get it over with
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Salamanizer
Trad climber
The land of Fruits & Nuts!
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Jun 18, 2013 - 10:43pm PT
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Who the hell gets paid to design this sh#t. Looks like someone put that together on their laptop in the back seat of a cab while running ten minutes late to a board meeting on Monday after a long weekend of heavy drinking.
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MH2
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 19, 2013 - 12:07am PT
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I don't see where the old logo was so inspired that it scared that committee.
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Relic
Social climber
Vancouver, BC
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Jun 19, 2013 - 12:34am PT
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The new logo says absolutely nothing about the brand while the old one says everything. What a horrible job they did.
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harryhotdog
Social climber
north vancouver, B.C.
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Jun 19, 2013 - 12:47am PT
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Change for changes sake. How is a green mountain on the side of the letters MEC granola? What a waste of MY money.
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MH2
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 19, 2013 - 12:48am PT
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This is how change gets a bad name.
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Fletcher
Trad climber
The great state of advaita
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Jun 19, 2013 - 01:27am PT
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I have no idea what the motivation for changing the logo is, so I can't speak to that.
If, though, they are targeting a more international market (or that their customers are increasingly coming from other countries), then getting rid of long English words is a common move (especially for countries that use non-Roman scripts). I'm not sure if that's true for MEC, thought. For example, "Federal Express" no longer exists, but is now FedEx. That one was derived by their customers in a way and if you are not English speaking, it's very easy to see the arrow in the current logo. I think UPS may be in the same boat (UPS vs. United Postal Service).
Also, when you are manufacturing physical gear, the logistics and cost of placing the all important brand logo on gear is simplified by a smaller rectangular logo.
I worked for a little company that once paid Paul Rand (in the late 1980's) $100,000 for a logo. He was well known for his logos and the most famous may be IBMs. He gathered the info he needed, went off an did it, produced a beautiful book describing the process went through to design it and presented to us. If we didn't like it, that was fine, but any new iterations would be another $100k. Fortunately, it was well received. Especially by the company's main founder and CEO who was known for his brilliant but sometimes exasperating attention to detail. However, there was a rumor that he (the founder) went through 30 iterations of Pantone greens before he found one that suited his needs for to color of one of the logo's letters. It now occurs to me that while both are good stories, both are at odds with each other. I'll have to check with the usual suspects who were in the know at the time.
Designing logos and company names is very interesting to me and I've had a small role in that in the past. It is not an easy task. The great ones seem so obvious, but there is a lot of wrangling, thought, hand-wringing, and probably opinionated yelling and screaming that went into creating them. After all, that tiny little patch of real estate is going to mean everything. It literally has the whole company's presence riding on it.
Of course, when you change anything, you are guaranteed to piss off at lest one person (and that's if you're lucky!). But change is the prime constant, eh?
Eric
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Relic
Social climber
Vancouver, BC
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Jun 19, 2013 - 02:58am PT
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The purpose of the re-branding was to attract a more "urban" audience. I have seen the new logo in white in a news article too. They can't even get the color of the logo straight.
I live in the city and I think the logo is sh#t.
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Roxy
Trad climber
CA Central Coast
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Jun 19, 2013 - 09:34am PT
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Interesting comments on appealing to an international audience with the logo change. That makes sense now that I've thought about it, but I don't see the 'urban' angle. Perhaps I live in too small of a town.
I wonder if the green mountain from the old logo could stand alone, when it comes to getting stitched on gear and what not.
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Jun 19, 2013 - 09:58am PT
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The MEC probably makes way more money selling disco jogging jackets than climbing gear anyway.
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Roxy
Trad climber
CA Central Coast
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Jun 19, 2013 - 10:17am PT
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I can't be the first person to have thought of this.
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MH2
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 19, 2013 - 10:51am PT
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Good commentary, Fletcher. Guess I'll have to get used to MEC as just another TLA.
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roadman
climber
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Jun 19, 2013 - 11:25am PT
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Member since 1994.
Small market, poor website, awful logo....
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Jun 19, 2013 - 12:04pm PT
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If I had come up with their new logo I'd expect to get fired soon.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Jun 19, 2013 - 12:25pm PT
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Since MEC has done it's best to piss off international customers for many years now, I don't think the new logo was designed with the international market in mind.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Jun 19, 2013 - 12:30pm PT
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member since seventy something. does me no frickin good whatever now that i live in the states.
the old logo was awfully close to the sportiva logo
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Chinchen
climber
Way out there....
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Jun 19, 2013 - 12:59pm PT
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Looks like sh#t. Bummer, I could have done better.
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Gerg
Trad climber
Calgary
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Jun 19, 2013 - 01:09pm PT
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Is this what the new board members decided on?
haha
With all the new young talent out there in the design field they give us this slap job.
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Oplopanax
Mountain climber
The Deep Woods
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Jun 19, 2013 - 10:15pm PT
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Jun 20, 2013 - 12:10am PT
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What brilliance!
It's right up there when they decided to rename the Northwest Territories. So they took a Canada-wide poll to see what it should be renamed.
#1 Most popular choice: the Northwest Territories
#2 Most popular choice: Bob
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Jun 20, 2013 - 12:28am PT
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Sometimes I love Canada.
If they wanted simple they should have gone really simple.
How bout a plain single. M
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Chief
climber
The NW edge of The Hudson Bay
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Jun 20, 2013 - 01:27am PT
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Member since 76.
"A bastion of mediocrity staffed by overeducated backpackers flogging bland and inferior imitations of innovator's product in the name of benevolent social consumerism".
Old logo not so great but understandable.
New one.....lame.
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Bad Climber
climber
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Jun 20, 2013 - 08:58am PT
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MEC has been semi-dead to me since they dropped the full line of RAD pants. Used to be able to get a range of colors in all sizes, including the tall kind that I need.
Put the rad back in RAd!
BAd
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MH2
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 20, 2013 - 11:03am PT
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Ah you bunch of elitists. Just what the poor store worried about - you danglers(climbers) scaring off the dabblers(customers) with your emblem of a mountain.
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happiegrrrl
Trad climber
www.climbaddictdesigns.com
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Jun 20, 2013 - 01:06pm PT
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I'm no pro at logo design, for sure. But I have to wonder how the deciders ate whatever BS the *creative* agency was feeding them, to agree to that logo.... Yet it seems to be the way things have been going in the last year. A trend towards extraordinarily boring logos.
I liked the one shown above with the mountain and letters combined.
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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Jun 20, 2013 - 01:38pm PT
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MEH, lol
I could care less about the logo so long as the return policy remains unharmed.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Jun 20, 2013 - 01:49pm PT
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I could care less about the logo so long as the return policy remains unharmed.
Given what just happened at REI, I suspect MEC will be looking hard at its return policies before long.
But really, Relic's post upthread says it all: The new logo says absolutely nothing about the brand while the old one says everything. What a horrible job they did.
Except that from the point of view of those in the Boardroom, it should end with "What a brilliant job they did."
Seriously. The whole point of that kind of logo is to disassociate the brand from any specific product or even product category. A box with some initials in it is a fine way to do that.
With that in mind, I point out that the box should have contained the letters "NBI" rather than "MEC." As in: "Nothing But Initials"
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Rolfr
Social climber
North Vancouver BC
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Jun 21, 2013 - 12:52am PT
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Say what you will about the logo, they still support climbers access issues.
The times they are a changing, from a Vancouver newspaper article. (that's the crinkly stuff with ink on it, used to communicate before the intardnet.)
"The most recent member-survey information on customer interests posted to Mountain Equipment Co-op’s website also reflects the changes. While 85 per cent of members surveyed listed camping and 61 per cent listed hiking as interests, cycling was a big category with 73 per cent of members and fitness or working out at a gym with 54 per cent.
And by comparison, 26 per cent listed yoga or Pilates as an interest versus 12 per cent for climbing."
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/affordability/Mountain+Equipment+retools+brand/8542417/story.html#ixzz2Wp4M82vT
I guess we are all just dinosaurs.
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happiegrrrl
Trad climber
www.climbaddictdesigns.com
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Jun 21, 2013 - 12:29pm PT
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With that in mind, I point out that the box should have contained the letters "NBI" rather than "MEC." As in: "Nothing But Initials"
Hey - that would be a good suggestion for that person who came on asking people to provide a name for his new company.
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