Branding a city is a highly sensitive affair. Love for a city means many different things to many people, and at the core is a sense of pride through past, present and future. Economically, the objective of London’s rebrand was to raise awareness on the heels of the 2012 Olympic Games, emotionally it needed to serve as an anchor for all Londoners.
The logo’s nomenclature “Est. 43 AD” places an image in your head rather and than relying on concrete graphic cues which are highly subjective. That image is different for everyone yet it immediately installs a sense of pride and belonging. Once applied on tourist merchandise and souvenirs it also provides a fun frame to quickly deliver a dose of British humor.
Agency: Saffron