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Step right up!
Have you seen the recently unveiled logo for the 2012 London Olympic Games? If not, here it is.
This, obviously, is not your ordinary Olympic logo. It’s very Keith Haring meets Eddie Grant for a drink on Electric Avenue, very Desperately Seeking Susan in a Top Shop, very Parker Posey in Party Girl, ordering a side of Babaghanouj from Blake Lewis as he beat-boxes to AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long.” It is very, dare I say, Banksy. And most people hate it.
Lord Sebastian Coe, the chairman of the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games, believes strongly that this “multimedia” logo is “dynamic, modern and flexible” and will help build a brand for the 2012 London Olympics that is inclusive, accessible, timely and appealing to young people.
The logo, based on the numbers “2012,” will come in shades of pink, blue, red and orange and will “evolve” during the five-year lead-up to the games.
BBC Sport reports that the logo has received an overwhelmingly negative response. Citizen critics ask why imagery of London is totally absent, why it doesn’t stay in the same vein as previous Olympic logos and why it can’t be uniquely British, like the British Olympic Association logo. Of course, there are many people who just think it’s ugly, dated and un-Olympic, and there are concerns as to how this jaunty logo will gel with corporate sponsorships.
When I first saw the logo, I didn’t think much of it. But now I actually really like it. I like the nerdy, torch-and-flag, expected Olympic logos, too. But I think that if the London 2012 Olympic brand is executed well, this logo could be a memorable (and fashionable) one that lives beyond and outside of the 2012 Olympic Games themselves. Frankly, I prefer it to silhouettes of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, or five London Eyes interlocked. Not that those were proposed logos, but you catch my drift.
I also think that people are overreacting to the logo alone before seeing how it will fit into the London 2012 brand campaign in general. Let us not forget that the logo is not the brand; it is an external representation of it.
The London 2012 brand campaign looks to be one that captures the heart, spirit and drive necessary for great human achievement – that which is so very inspiring about the Olympics – and the logo provides a recognizable stamp that represents movement and leaves the rest to your imagination.
What’s your opinion?
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The rings lose their symbolic color, the general occasion loses its torch, and the only thing London about it is the humbly lower-case "london". So it's modern...great. But, there's no connection to the past...the Tradition. I'm horrified.
The logo screams children's show for the Ritalin addicts, rather than proudly proclaiming London's continuation of the ancient tradition. The brand may be able to respond to the negative response, but with such a strong negative reaction to such a prominent represenation of the Games, the brand will have a lot to compensate for.
I frankly hate it.