Ogilvy & Mather at Fonts In Use

“The One Moment” – Morton Salt viral ad

Darden Studio — Tue, 28 Nov 2017 15:54:49 +0000

Omnes Pro by Darden Studio is Morton Salt’s corporate typeface. It is also utilized for “The One Moment”, a clever commercial that doubles as spectacular music video by OK Go.

In 2016, Morton Salt launched “Walk Her Walk”, a platform that conveys the brand’s aim to make a positive impact by supporting social initiatives. To kick off the campaign, Ogilvy & Mather devised an ad that would reintroduce the venerable brand in an unexpected way, connect with consumers on a more emotional level, and resonate with millennials. They approached OK Go, with the idea of creating a video around a song. The local Chicago band is known for clever low tech yet elaborate music videos that go viral . “The One Moment” was selected as a good thematic fit for the brand’s new positioning.

The clip starts with a typographic animation in which the band’s name transforms into the song title, artfully taking advantage of the fact that both — like MORTON — include two ‘O’s. Omnes was likewise chosen for intertitles and closing cards. Together with the umbrella girl, the familiar letterforms help to call the viewer’s attention to Morton as the sender without being obtrusive.

As expected, the video became a massive internet hit. Within the first five days of its release, it had been watched over 4.6 million times. By February 2017, it had received 40 million views across YouTube and Facebook.

The opening animation ends with the song title neatly set in two tightly spaced lines of equal length, in yellow caps from Omnes Regular. The compactness of this setting is further accentuated by a dark blue frame that echoes the monolinear strokes of the letterforms.

The video is shot in state-of-the-art slow motion and features fireworks of analog visual effects including explosions of color powder, surges of paint, scattering water balloons, and guitars flying into pieces.

After the first run in real time, Omnes reclaims the stage. The intertitles are presented in a focussed setting, set in the Regular weight, center-aligned on white, avoiding anything that could distract from the message.

Morton Salt’s corporate colors are dark blue and yellow. Just like the use of the corporate typeface Omnes, they subliminally point to the brand without explicitly revealing the sender yet.

The clip ends with an image of the “Morton Salt Girl”. Since this brand figure is one of the ten best-known symbols in the United States, there is no need for additionally showing the wordmark. Omnes delivers the message (“It only takes one moment to make a difference / Help brighten the world”) and, in a bolder weight, the link to the campaign web page.

The landing page on Morton Salt’s “Walk Her Walk” campaign website seamlessly continues the visual identity with Omnes as typographic basis.

Credits:
OK Go: Damian Kulash, Timothy Nordwind, Andy Ross, Dan Konopka
Directed by Damian Kulash. Produced by Park Pictures Exec. Producer: Justin Pollock. Line Producer: Pat Frazier. Production Designer: Bradley Thordarson. Director of Photography: Shawn Kim. Editor: Cass Vanini. Post Effects: Artjail, Steve Mottershead

This post was originally published at Fonts In Use

Huggies

Darden Studio — Fri, 17 Feb 2017 14:38:05 +0000

Contributed by Darden Studio

Huggies is Kimberly-Clark’s brand name for disposable diapers, baby pants, baby wipes and related product lines. Since 2010, Omnes by Darden Studio is the main typeface of the corporate identity. The rounded sans serif is used for all aspects of the international brand, from packaging, print ads and TV commercials to websites and apps.

Snug & Dry packaging

Litte Snugglers packaging

In New Zealand and Australia, Huggies diapers are marketed in gender-specific versions for girls and boys. Omnes works for both.

Source: sensorsensibility.evankafka.com Photography: Evan Kafka / Glasshouse. Art Director: Vince Soliven. Creative Directors: Chris Turner, David Metcalf / Ogilvy & Mather. License: All Rights Reserved.

Ads from the “We Want You” campaign for the new SureFit design, with bold caps from Omnes.

Ads from the “Little Mover’s Slip-On Diaper” campaign. See also the TV spots directed by Bruce Hurwit.

The website uses Omnes for all text, from headlines and teasers to smaller texts and navigational items.

Menu of the French-language website with “Mommy Answers”. Omnes is paired with matching icons.

The website employs a range of styles from the Omnes family. This detail shows the Extra Light in a center-aligned display setting, combined with caps from the regular weight.

To maintain brand consistency across all media, Omnes is used in the Huggies Rewards app, too.

Logo of the current “No Baby Unhugged” program, featuring Omnes Regular and the Semibold Italic.

Detail of a Spanish-language diaper sizing chart, with reversed glyphs from Omnes Bold

“Packing for the Hospital. A Labor of Love” — detail of an illustrated infographic aimed at parents-to-be

The animated microsite for Little Swimmers swim pants makes colorful use of Omnes Bold and Semibold.

The Italian website features a very different color range, but adheres to Omnes as the corporate typeface.

Thanks to its wide and ever-growing language support, Omnes can be used for the Turkish market, too.

This post was originally published at Fonts In Use

Teen pregnancy awareness campaign

Gareth Hague — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 12:40:22 +0000

Contributed by Gareth Hague

Ogilvy & Mather. License: All Rights Reserved.

A series of posters for a teen pregnancy awareness campaign, controversial for its portrayal of teenagers which some awareness groups viewed as ‘demonizing’.

Sociologist Gretchen Sisson:

Public service announcements that claim to be about “preventing teen pregnancy” are more frequently about shaming and stigmatizing young parents. This is not a way to encourage young people to take control of their reproductive lives, and it’s certainly not a way to support young families.

Headline typography and ‘sex has consequences’ type use Elephant Medium.

Ogilvy & Mather. License: All Rights Reserved.

Ogilvy & Mather. License: All Rights Reserved.

This post was originally published at Fonts In Use

American Express “Realise the potential” ad campaign

Fonts In Use Staff — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 18:33:21 +0000

Contributed by Fonts In Use Staff

Source: www.ogilvy.co.uk Ogilvy & Mather Advertising. License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: www.ogilvy.co.uk Ogilvy & Mather Advertising. License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: www.ogilvy.co.uk Ogilvy & Mather Advertising. License: All Rights Reserved.

This post was originally published at Fonts In Use

IBM100

Stephen Coles — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:57:22 +0000

Contributed by Stephen Coles

IBM turns 100 this year. Along with publicity magnets like Watson, the company has produced a series of creative projects celebrating their history. A lot of this stuff — produced with the help of their agency Ogilvy & Mather — is very nicely designed, with an attention to typographic detail that is uncommon among massive conglomerates.

IBM 100 Icons of Progress: Index Page

IBM 100 Icons of Progress: The Selectric Typewriter

100 Icons of Progress tells IBM’s stories of technological innovation through icons and clean, open pages designed for reading. Typographers will dig the feature on the Selectric Typewriter, but the article fails to mention Howard “Bud” Kettler or Courier. IBM plays it safe on these pages, using Georgia for text and headlines, Helvetica for trim.

The type is more varied in Ogilvy & Mathers’ series of documentary films that “chronicle the ways in which IBM has changed the world through scientific and technology achievements”. “100 x 100”, by celebrated commercial director and Gandalf-coiffed Joe Pytka, features one hundred people who describe an IBM achievement that took place the year they were born. The film functions like a sort of kinetic timeline with each year represented by numbers from a piece of ephemera, or an object from the respective period. Each set of numerals is a beautiful and instructive window on the technology and trends of their era.

The first part of the century is marked by numbers that don’t come fonts, per se: script handwriting, rubber stamps, and mechanical counters. But there is some type at work in advertising and newspapers, as well as typewritten documents presaging Courier and other typefaces inspired by typewriters.

The late 1930s and ’40s demonstrate the popularity of Futura and its followers, including Twentieth Century, Spartan and Tempo. Some (or all?) of these historical bits were likely recreated. This is usually done very skillfully, without anachronism. An exception is ITC Lubalin Graph, which seems to make an appearance as the “1950” despite not having been created until 1974. It doesn’t feel too wrong, though. Geometric slabs that are truly of that era, like Rockwell and Stymie, have a serif on the ‘5’. Memphis is more condensed.

Other than the LCD of a calculator cleverly representing “1981” and some subtle, centered Times, the years after 1965 are dominated by Helvetica. This is mostly due to its role as an identity typeface for IBM, but it’s also a reflection of the conformity that has inflicted the corporate landscape over the last five decades.

This post was originally published at Fonts In Use

IBM and Watson

Stephen Coles — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 04:54:42 +0000

Contributed by Stephen Coles

When Watson appeared on Jeopardy! on February 14, 2011, it did more than make history as the first machine to compete on the game show. It also demonstrated the strength of a typographic identity. The human players are traditionally represented by their handwritten names. How, then, would the computer be identified? With ITC Lubalin Graph.

The typeface, by the great Herb Lubalin, hasn’t always been a part of IBM’s identity, but it’s the perfect fit for Paul Rand’s iconic design. Like most centenarian companies, IBM has gone through some dramatic logo changes (and even a few name changes) over its lifetime, from the ornamental lettering typical of the Victorian era to the jaunty globe of the 1920s, to the hefty mid-century slabs. Rand made his first mark in 1956, replacing the less confident outlined Beton with a design that began with City. Rand lengthened the serifs and poked squares in the ‘B’. He added the stripes in 1972 and the logo hasn’t changed since. (By the way, the average Saul Bass logo lives 34 years. I wonder what Rand’s record is.)

Print

ITC Lubalin Graph has just the right geometric structure and slab weight to complement the IBM logo and the brand has been using it extensively. The typeface does a lot of the work in IBM’s very typographic print campaigns by Ogilvy.

IBM print ads posted on Ads of the World in October 2010.

IBM ads at JFK Airport. Photo taken in February 2011 by Nick Sherman.

Web

IBM backs up their commitment to innovation by using ITC Lubalin Graph as a webfont on its Watson. There is some fine-tuning to do — absent kerning is especially apparent in words like “Watson”. The IBM.com homepage and online version of the Smarter Planet campaign are still old-school type-as-image, but the pages are well designed and the identity is truly consistent across media. Kudos to IBM’s internal UX team and VSA Partners for their fine work on these pages.

Video

See more of IBM’s identity at work in their video for Watson.

This post was originally published at Fonts In Use