Branding

Over the past week I have been tuned into organizational branding. It started last weekend when I visited Edinburgh and noticed that the city of Edinburgh has a logo. Certain items put out by the city have the word "Edinburgh" in a particular font at the top, presumably to let citizens and visitors know that the information being put out was by the city. A few items I saw with the logo were signs containing information at bus stops, and notices by the city about a street festival that was happening in a few days.

I noticed a few other smaller examples of this on our trip to London today, when Mediacom's water jugs had their logo on it and a few pictures (ads?) in the lobby of the Financial Times had phrases that ended in "We are in financial times," tying in larger world events with the newspaper.

In these instances, I think branding is most interesting in the case of the city of Edinburgh. I think this would have a positive impact, allowing people in Edinburgh to feel as if they are receiving official messages endorsed by the city, and would give the sense that the city government is one unified body.