So much attention is focused on the fate of the Barbie brand that we forget the other great toy lines owned by Mattel including View-Master, Magic 8 Ball, ello, Polly Pocket and Fisher-Price. Mattel’s boys’ toy car line is composed of Hot Wheels, Tyco and Matchbox. Of the three, HotMORE HERE
Missing the old dome liners that ran from Los Angeles to Chicago on the Santa Fe? Here is one in Santa Fe, New Mexico, just off downtown, back in 2005. Happily, the Santa Fe brand is still alive. The Santa Fe Southern Railroad operates the old Super Chief dome carsMORE HERE
At left, a great logo from Intelsat and Hughes, seen on the Space Shuttle mock up walk through at Kennedy Space Center. Hughes once built satellites for Intelsat. The company is now morphed. Sadly, there are fewer Hughes companies than there were. Thankfully, there is still a Hughes Satellite, andMORE HERE
Missing your old friends in the fridge, or at the beer cooler? It could be that your favorite beer brand is gone. While some brands are making a comeback, other brands are still in the tank, as of 2008. Fortune magazine’s Beth Kowitt surveyed the top 99 oldest beers inMORE HERE
The online magazine Brandchannel has a useful paper on dead brands by Sunil Thomas and Chiranjeev Kohli, both marketing professors. The paper is called “Reviving Weak and Dead Brands: Insights from Theory and Practice” and addresses cases that include Oldsmobile, PanAm, and Woolworth. Their first recommendation is to increase theMORE HERE
As a brand updates its look, and signage, the previous incarnations of the design can be interior motifs. This serves two purposes. It helps the consumer know the story of the brand, and it helps the company tell the story of design in a different way. If company rebrands, andMORE HERE
Zoning and signage do not always match. In some cases, making the case for a sign in zoning is impossible. One trick used often by Walgreen’s and other retailers? Put the sign inside a window. In this case, a convenience store in Pensacola, Florida put their Shell logo inside aMORE HERE
The brand Marimekko, so popular across the world in the 1960s and 70s, has returned to retail. Here, a look at their store in South Beach, Miami. It’s a full concept store, and its right off Lincoln Road. Visit them at marimekkomiami.biz. Marimekko was founded in 1951 by Armi andMORE HERE
If you are in the Glen Allen region of Richmond, motor on over to the Courtney Road Texaco station. It’s an old country store on a corner that has been restored by the Henrico County Department of Recreation and Parks. It is one of a number of restored Texaco stationsMORE HERE
One of the most missed American brands is Pan American American World Airways. It is a brand that has had multiple lives. After bankruptcy in 1991, in fall of 1999, Pan American World Airways had its second life. This was a miracle even in the airline world where once fabledMORE HERE