LOGOS and LOST: The Dharma Initiative gets a new logo redesign

At Perceptivity Studio, we love a good logo redesign...and we also love the television show LOST. So when we heard here that the show's fictional mysterious scientific organization, the DHARMA Initiative, had undergone a logo redesign resulting in a new logo, we had to take a look at it.












The original logo, according to the Lostpedia, is "based on an octagonal design incorporating eight trigrams surrounding a central symbol. The design of the logo was derived from a Chinese concept known as Bagua."

The new DHARMA logo has a fresh, modern look with an updated wordmark and simplified trigrams. The trigrams have also been rotated clockwise two positions...perhaps due to events from the season finale? The new DHARMA logo also loses the bold lines and hand-drawn aesthetic in favor of a streamlined 21st century look.

For those of you not familiar with LOST, a group of plane crash survivors land on a mysterious island which they discover was formerly occupied in the 70s by the noticeably absent DHARMA scientists. As the show progresses, we discover the group's "stations" littered across the island, each with a new DHARMA logo.

Here's the first DHARMA logo found, the Swan:

















And the last DHARMA logo found, the Orchid:

















The LOST team has been attending the Comic-Con convention for the past few years, and each year they do something fun and interesting. This year the DHARMA Initiative is supposedly attending the conference to "recruit new members." This publicity stunt, which is rumored to become an alternate reality game, was revealed in a commercial during a LOST episode from Octagon Global Recruiting (referring to the octagonal shape of the DHARMA logo), and they've hired actors to man the booth and administer "eligibility tests." (The site was down when I tried it, but feel free to check back.)

They also unveiled their new logo at the conference. Nice job, DHARMA Initiative on your new logo. Namaste. :)

Introducing LendersREOTitle.com

LendersREOTitle.com is a new title company started by Phil Clark, President of Enterprise Title of Tampa Bay. This start-up company specializing in title work on foreclosure homes needed a new logo that complemented their existing Enterprise Title identity, so Perceptivity Studio worked with the company to created a logo that was unique while still remaining professional. It also shares a consistent color palette and typeface with the existing Enterprise Title logo.


















We wish Phil luck as he launches this new company soon!

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Viral Marketing: Popcorn Cell Phones

Did you know that cell phones can make kernels of popcorn pop? Just think what they must be doing to your brain! Mass pandemonium ensues!



Wrong! It turns out the video was a marketing ploy by Cardo Systems, makers of a Bluetooth headset. It was officially debunked by physicists here, and Snopes here but everyone doesn't do the research before believing their email forwards. Hence the video has gone "viral," with millions of people spreading it around.

Viral marketing is defined as a marketing strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence.

Marketers have been using the viral marketing medium quite successfully. Some famous viral marketing examples that you may have participated in yourself include Burger King's Subservient Chicken which allowed users to control a creepy chicken character to promote their BK Tendercrisp sandwich that you can get "just the way you like it" just like you can get the subservient chicken to do anything you want it to do.

Another of my favorite viral marketing examples is the Dove Evolution campaign, which has won multiple awards, and goes beyond the "silly" factor to present a very valid and important message to women around the world. I received it quite a few times in email forwards myself, did you?



Goofy, meaningful or just plain weird, viral marketing is certainly a new medium that many big companies are using quite successfully.