Trinity University's Logo Backlash • Snapchat Invented Everything and Kept Nothing • Vans' New Visual System

Welcome to edition #11 of our weekly roundup of branding news, thought leadership, and insightful articles on brand strategy.

Each week, we curate and summarize the most relevant stories from the branding industry, so you can stay informed without having to search for them yourself. Enjoy!

• Apple seems to be rebranding itself as a subscription service. I wish it wouldn’t

  Apple is transitioning from an ownership-based brand built on iconic physical design to an access-based model by promoting hardware leasing. This shift towards a subscription utility model risks eroding the unique emotional capital and tactile value of owning physical Apple products.

• As Chinese brands gain share in Europe, which legacy automakers are losing ground?
  The entry of Chinese automakers in the past five years has reshaped the European auto market, with companies such as BYD, SAIC and Chery moving steadily up the sales tables and threatening century-old players such as Ford and even Mercedes-Benz.

• How DNCO turned Vermont from a place people admire into one they actually want to visit

  To bridge a massive gap between passive admiration and actual travel bookings, place-branding agency DNCO developed Vermont’s first tourism brand, “State of Inspiration.” The strategy moves past nostalgic postcard scenery to highlight active, culture-driven reasons to visit.

• For 100 years no-one noticed it, but this rebrand finally gives Gunnersbury Museum a reason to be found

  Brand consultancy Wiedemann Lampe resolved a navigation and identity challenge for Gunnersbury Park and Museum. The modular visual system uses distinct symbols and color-coded pathways to clarify whether the entities are united or separate, improving visibility for the hidden museum.

• Elizabeth Goodspeed on the branding challenge behind Mayor Zohran’s new municipal grocery stores

  Writer Elizabeth Goodspeed examines the branding challenge behind NYC Groceries, a new network of city-supported grocery stores. The project raises important questions about what public-sector design identities should achieve and how civic brands can effectively communicate community affordability.

• Can local government reorganisation realise the value of brand?

  Writer Dennis Cook discusses how restructuring local government in England presents a rare opportunity for public councils to redefine their brand identity. In a non-competitive market, strategic branding can build deep public trust and clarify the complex essential services councils manage daily.

• You’ve Outgrown Your Personal Brand. Now What?
  Substack author Nathalia Montenegro explains how to break free from a boxed-in personal brand by anchoring your message to a quest rather than a narrow topic. She offers a simple framework to gradually transition your content as you and your business evolve.

• Why the brand experience still feels fragmented

  Multidisciplinary agencies frequently work in silos, creating visual consistency but failing to establish experiential continuity. Brands must focus on how consumers transition between different physical and digital touchpoints rather than simply applying the same colors and logos to isolated outputs.

• The hidden ROI of rituals: why the most powerful brands design what people repeat

  The most memorable brands build repeatable customer rituals that drive long-term affinity and organic growth. Examples like Guinness’s “Splitting the G,” Spotify’s Wrapped, and Corona’s lime demonstrate how creating small, shareable consumer behaviors turns passive buyers into active brand participants.

• Snapchat Invented Everything and Kept Nothing
  Snapchat pioneered defining social media innovations like Stories and AR filters, yet failed to build a durable network moat, effectively serving as unpaid R&D for giants like Meta. Written by Will Poskett: Brand Strategist for the Behind the Brand Substack, the piece breaks down how flawed counterpositioning, disposable user interactions, and unchecked leadership capped the platform’s long-term earning power.

• Why brands must first build emotional investment

  Prioritizing short-term performance marketing and direct-to-consumer optimization over consistent, long-term brand building creates hollow “zombie brands.” Re-establishing emotional connections through original storytelling, as seen in Nike’s recent community-focused pivot, remains essential for sustainable customer retention and acquisition.

• How to Recalibrate Your Shame Strategy

  Consulting firm SYLVAIN notes that social media has empowered consumers to “shame up,” rapidly targeting institutions that fail to meet ethical standards. Brands must navigate this landscape carefully, as public outrage is simultaneously highly destructive and fleetingly ephemeral.

• Is Glossier’s In-House Creative Team Quietly Fracturing Under New CMO Pressure?

  Internal friction at beauty brand Glossier reveals a growing philosophical clash between long-term brand storytelling and performance marketing. Commercial leadership’s demand for high-velocity, scroll-stopping content is reportedly challenging the quiet aesthetic restraint that originally built the brand’s cultural equity.

• Trinity University freezes logo rollout amid fierce alumni backlash

  Trinity University paused its rebranding rollout following intense alumni backlash against a new sunburst logo. The freeze illustrates the deep emotional equity stakeholders hold in heritage institutions, reminding marketers that academic rebrands require transparency and respect for community history.

• M — N Associates turns Lôcô Art Market into ‘working factory’

  Vietnam creative studio M—N Associates designed a visual identity for Lôcô Art Market inspired by logistics. Using monospaced typography, cardboard textures, and physical packing tape, the system embraces a playful, imperfect “production line” aesthetic to represent the assembly of creative work.

• Adoratorio Studio takes a new lens on eyewear with a soft but technical rebrand for Indice

  Creative agency Adoratorio Studio rebranded eyewear label Indice as “The Eyewear Lounge.” This positioning deliberately avoids sterile, clinical retail codes in favor of a slow, intimate home aesthetic, successfully transforming a technical product retailer into a cohesive luxury lifestyle brand.

• View Source designs brand identity for pet wellness startup Watts

  Design studio View Source created a minimalist brand identity for pet supplement startup Watts. To stand out from overly clinical or hyper-playful category tropes, the visual system uses a restrained geometric wordmark, energetic custom typography, and a simplified, ingredient-inspired color palette.

• Accept & Proceed’s new system for Vans is a lesson in how to inject clarity into an iconic brand

  Design studio Accept & Proceed rebuilt the visual framework for Vans around the concept “Our Canvas. Your Way.” The system establishes a clear, two-layer hierarchy separating fixed heritage assets from flexible elements, allowing regional teams and local communities to customize the brand safely.

• Trust The Strategy: The Six Nations Creative Lead On Its New Brand

  Six Nations Rugby transitioned its men’s tournament to a cleaner, unified visual identity that aligns with its highly successful women’s brand. The collaborative design strategy establishes a cohesive brand ecosystem to engage both new and long-term sports audiences globally.

• What can punctuation and glyphs say that words can’t? Overview opts for expression over legibility in documentary identity

  Brand office Overview developed an identity for the documentary series “Human” using Jeffersonian transcription glyphs. By integrating conversational pauses and speech symbols into the custom typography, the design system favors raw expression over clean, sterile legibility to build editorial credibility.

• Derek&Eric designs brand identity for Flower & White’s The Glorious Mess

  London studio Derek&Eric developed an identity for dessert brand The Glorious Mess. The design leans into the chaotic folklore of Eton Mess, using expressive typography and raw product photography of “spilt meringue” to stand out on grocery shelves.

• The Trend Gap: Why the Best Design Isn’t Always the Best Branding
  Design trends may impress other designers but confuse customers and hurt the business. Brands should choose designs that fit their audience, history, and goals instead of simply following what is popular.

• Scana Energy rebrand transforms its bears into official mascots

  Global agency Landor refreshed Scana Energy’s visual identity by elevating its existing bear characters into primary brand mascots. Based on distinctive asset testing, the rebrand demonstrates how utility providers in price-sensitive, commoditized markets can achieve differentiation by reinforcing established consumer trust.

• Coca-Cola’s Quiet Rebrand Beats Every Loud One

  Coca-Cola implemented a restrained visual identity refresh focused on subtraction. Rather than modifying its iconic logo, the update refines typography, standardizes photography, and tightens global clear-space rules, demonstrating that heritage brands can build stronger consistency by removing unnecessary visual noise.

• Together rebrands US healthcare firm Amperos with 90% trust, 10% punk

  Branding agency Together designed an identity for healthcare revenue-cycle firm Amperos. To disrupt a dry category without losing essential institutional credibility, the design strategy intentionally balances ninety percent trust and rigorous execution with ten percent attitude, avoiding clinical and care-washed tropes.

• How SOCIETAS Rebranded Werder Bremen

  Munich studio SOCIETAS rebranded football club Werder Bremen by leaving its historic diamond crest untouched. The supporting visual identity was modernized using patterns and layouts inspired by local city history and supporter culture, proving that heritage symbols should be preserved rather than reinvented.

• Audible’s new brand campaign says stories can change your life

  Partnering with Special US, Audible launched its global campaign, “Stories that Speak to You.” The creative execution uses humorous, surreal narratives to position audio listening as an immersive, life-altering experience rather than just a passive way to pass the time.

• Pepsi shades Coca-Cola in parody rebrand

  Pepsi reacted to Coca-Cola’s recent subtle brand refresh with a social media parody mocking the dramatic fanfare of minor visual updates. The playful campaign highlights the ongoing use of competitive brand banter to reinforce Pepsi’s own straightforward positioning.

• Swaadesi Turns Everyday Conversations Into ‘A Biskut Moment’

  Unibic’s Swaadesi Biskut launched its “A Biskut Moment” campaign in India. By focusing on spontaneous daily conversations, the brand positions its product as a natural prompt to pause and share a ritualistic tea break, building a culturally rooted, long-term brand asset.

• Santander marketer Joe Goldberg on why AI won’t kill emotional brand choice

  Santander’s brand strategy chief Joe Goldberg argues that AI’s efficiency gains will not replace the emotional connections that drive customer decisions. In commoditized, regulated sectors like banking, distinctive, human-led storytelling remains the primary engine for building long-term brand equity.

• Brisbane Branding Agency Beinc Says AI-Generated Design Is No Substitute for Brand Strategy

  Design agency Beinc warns that fast, AI-generated visuals should not be mistaken for complete brand strategies. Because generic digital design tools risk making competitors look identical, authentic positioning must prioritize user research, competitor analysis, and clear commercial goals first.

• Lush and Moomin team up on ethical licensed collab

  Ethical cosmetics brand Lush partnered with character franchise Moomin on a collaborative collection. The partnership is built on deeply aligned core values of inclusivity, compassion, and planet-friendly practices, using storytelling to advocate for global human rights and environmental care.

• Long Live Brand Pragmatism

  Consumers are increasingly cynical toward lofty, abstract brand promises. Branders are pivoting toward “brand pragmatism,” which translates environmental and social values into tangible, everyday benefits that improve the customer’s wallet, health, or home, backed by measurable, auditable proof of impact.

• Clarity needed for recycled content claims

  Following advertising bans on major apparel brands for misleading recycling claims, waste management experts are calling for standardized thresholds. The lack of clear statutory minimums for “recycled” labeling harms consumer trust and highlights the need for strict, percentage-based transparency.

• Big Fashion Brands Try on a New Trend: Selling Secondhand Clothes
  Retailers are investing in ‘preloved’ apparel drops, partly to offset the environmental cost of churning out a seemingly endless array of styles.

• Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Masino is out. Was the logo really to blame?

  The departure of Cracker Barrel’s CEO highlights the high stakes of rebranding. A visual overhaul that stripped beloved heritage elements alienated core customers, proving that visual identity changes can become destructive flashpoints if they ignore the emotional connections of the audience.

• TBWA unveils new global identity created by DXD

  Agency network TBWA launched a global visual identity centered on analogue and handcrafted elements, including brush strokes and imperfect typography. This “Design by Disruption” approach aims to celebrate human creativity and make the brand recognizable across diverse touchpoints without relying solely on its logo.

• Inside Koto’s new type foundry, CcType

  Global branding agency Koto launched CcType, its own independent type foundry. This strategic move addresses the recurring challenge of finding existing typefaces that perform reliably across complex digital products and physical systems, offering tailored variable display options directly to brands.

Thanks for reading until the end! We’d love to read your thoughts and feedback in the comments of this Substack newsletter.

Your Team at The Branding Journal

www.thebrandingjournal.com