Whenever I draw up a proposal for a new client, I always leave a lot of open space for creativity from my clients. In other words, if you have a crazy idea, I’ll run with it. Logo branding is no exception. That’s what really made me fall head over heels for marketing. I love the chance to be part of innovation. Creativity thrives in the opportunity to express culture through the development of a solid logo branding process.
Big innovation lives right on the edge of ridiculous ideas
–Brendan Boyle, IDEO
Even more, I love being part of crazy shenanigans. Who doesn’t love having fun and working at the same time?! Well, I’ve done this more than a few times in my professional career. There is a logo branding story that I’d like to share with you and it just so happens to start with a cute woodland creature named Bernard.
Origin of Bernie Logo Branding
Bernard or “Bernie” was a phone-loving Beaver that I helped to dream up with the help of my team in 2011. The story actually began with a stale, ugly, and boring logo… it was heartbreaking. I’ve combed back through the ancient archives to bring you a preview of what the branding direction was before I dug my heels in and started to pitch my idea.
I really didn’t like the bland brand, and it wasn’t in line with my vision for the company. I was feeling so jazzed by all the big plans for the company and the potential of the product. We had a solid team, a great product and so much to offer. The logo just had zero personality. It kept me up at night. I finally got the courage to put together an idea board. I used a bunch of famous tech brands to prove my point because what I was about to pitch was a little crazy…
Creating The Branding Vision
I designed a presentation that included some of the technology greats logos like Firefox, Mailchimp, Survey Monkey, Linux Panda, Twitter Bird… etc. All of these companies had the tech industry right where they wanted them because they had a brand and a personality. The personality was ever more effective because of the animal logo / mascot / brand. I really loved how Mailchimp had given their monkey friend so much personality and even created little products around him, it made me feel so invested in their company. That’s what I wanted for the audience of LogMyCalls. That was the vision that I knew my team had for the company too.
Running With The Logo Idea
Luckily they had just hired a new marketing executive and he was on board with my idea. Or let us at least say that he tolerated my idea in the beginning. The design for the logo was brilliant (if I do say so myself). I can’t take credit for the artwork, but the idea was sure fun. We even made a paper-doll version that was a downloadable offering on the website and included a traveling beaver segment with pictures of Bernie in various locations. There were coloring pages of Bernard lining the break room walls.
In hindsight, the brown may have been a little much, but I really liked seeing the character of the company grow as “Bernie” the Beaver’s logo branding took the branding seat. The company vision and direction shifted and I ended up leaving not too long after the genesis of Bernie the lovable beaver, but it will always be a fond memory. This was back in my Joomla website development days. If you want to see some more recent designs to compare how far I’ve come creatively, here is my updated WordPress website development portfolio.
The culture here was really, really unique at LogMyCalls. But don’t take my word for it. I’m including proof. Also, I mentioned the LogMyCalls was a brilliant concept, but they ultimately rebranded as “Convirsa”.
Stay tuned for another adventure : Gorilla Marketing #bananasformarketing