Starz drops $25 million on new logo, marketing initiative (CONGRATULATIONS RYAN)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/03/31/starz-drops-25-million-on-new-logo-marketing-initiative/

Posted Mar 31st 2008 8:18PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Industry, Starz, Advertising
They never said change was easy -- nor inexpensive, apparently. Announced today, Starz has decided to undertake its "largest long-term brand investment since 2002," freeing itself of $25 million in order to spark up a new brand and marketing initiative. Users will start seeing an all new logo, fresh on-air look and an "integrated advertising campaign on-air and online." As expected, the new identity -- part of the "Are You Ready?" initiative -- will be ran across the company's six SD and four HD channels, and Starz is slated to run TV spots with the new logo starting on April 7th (while the online portion launches on April 14th). Hope it's worth it.

My son in law Ryan (married to my oldest daughter Bobbi) designed the new logo:

Another article: http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2008/03/31/daily10.html?ana=from_rss

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Nice logo

I was thinking how sophisticated it was. Congrats! How much of the $25 mil. did he get? I'd hope a large chunk of it!

[tomreedtoon]

2. Congrats! Your son ripped off the stupid corporate scumbags.

No, really. $25 million? I have stuck together typography and graphic elements in my spare time for role playing games, fan groups and other organizations, with alternatives for different print medias, in a matter of minutes. And I get paid zilch, even get insults for my "gay" logos.

But your son-in-law managed to convince a bunch of dumb corporate suits that slapping a new logo on their pointless, expensive cable channel would make it more popular. And he got paid for it. That's wonderful. My sincere congratulations.

[Ordr]

5. So they're scumbags because they're a corporation? Or rich?

[tomreedtoon]

17. Because they're corporations, rich AND stupid.

Corporations are by their nature stupid, and the larger they are, the stupider they are.

Example: Warner Brothers in the 1940's made low-cost but vital movies that have held up well over the ages. AOL Time Warner in 2008 makes forgettable remakes of movies that are forgotten almost as soon as they're seen, and wind up in the $5 bin at Wal-Mart within a few months. The difference: One version of the corporation is bigger than the other.

And the need of corporations to try on different logos and "corporate identities" is either like a criminal trying to put on a mask to hide what he really looks like, or a hideously scarred woman trying on different hats to see if they make her look attractive. (Call that sexist if you wish; it's the perfect metaphor.)

Philip Morris can call themselves Altrea as much as they want, they still make cancer sticks. And that they spent millions on the makeover job makes them even more stupid and evil.

[John Kerry VonErich]

6. Starz is the cheapest of all pay movie networks.

nt

[blondeatlast]

7. In marketing, it's audience, audience, audience. You target the wrong ones

so you don't make lots o' bucks.

Try your stuff with Microsoft and get back to us, hmm?

[El Pinko]

9. I'm fairly certain that the logo designer got nowhere near $25 mil.

The bulk of the money will go to the "marketing initiative". I'm sure he made a good amount on the logo, though. Congrats!

[tomreedtoon]

19. He made an honest deal...AND cost them $25 million!

That's the point. They were convinced to spend a fortune on new signs, stationary and business cards, and all the rest. For something that won't do them a damn bit of good. I like it when corporations spend stupid money.

[mondo joe]

27. Companies the size of STARZ don't need to be convinced to do branding - they

generally have their own branding and communications depatrments and plan over multiple years when to update logos and such.

[Squatch]

28. And they've already determined that the present value of future cash flows

generated by the new logo exceed the $25M invested in it.

[tomreedtoon]

35. Funny, Warner has had their shield since the 30's.

Yes, they've redone it and done different graphic styles, but it's still the same identifiable logo. Why do companies think they need to change that?

I remember when NBC used a stylized "N" at the same time a Nebraska PBS affiliate used it. It turns out the PBS affiliate had it first, NBC had to redo theirs (they essentially stuck with the peacock, a good idea) and the PBS affiliate got paid off in used TV equipment they desperately needed.

NBC didn't need a new logo. They would have done better sticking with the peacock in the first place.

[mondo joe]

11. I doubt the graphic designer convinced them, or got $25m.

[tomreedtoon]

14. If he got $25 for an hour of work, that's sufficient.

The point is the silliness of thinking that putting a new logo on your firm will make people forget that your defective product killed a bunch of people last year. It's pretense that this will solve your business's problems.

[StrongBad]

15. Are we supposed to infer from your post that Starz is responsible for killing people last year?

I'm sorry, I can't tell what's serious and legitimate from what is a joke anymore...

[tomreedtoon]

20. I was talking generically, but...sure, why not?

Starz kills time. And it isn't worth it for the money. That's all I have to say about them.

But about corporate image makeovers in general...they're mostly pretense, ego and an attempt to duck responsibility for doing evil. Or maybe just flailing around in the water, trying to stop the corporate ship from sinking. I think the appropriate metaphor is "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."

[mondo joe]

21. Whether or not it's worth the money rather depends on the desired

outcome and whether this helps acheive it or not.

A fresh logo can be helpful in acheiving usual goals of increasing revenue, even in the absence of murderous evil.

:-)

[tomreedtoon]

23. Dear God....you actually believe the business press?

I know people actually watch Business Week on TV, or listen to those awful inspirational tapes that the bosses all listen to, but you actually believe it? BWA-hah-haah---haaa!

For the record, business is not a means of exchanging goods or services for value. Business is a religion. Not even a pagan religion, a primitive one. Buy a fax machine, wear a blue pinstriped suit, make women act as much as men so they can be trustworthy, and buy the latest computer with the latest software, and you too can be blessed by the Business God!

I'll bet you've even been sucked into watching the PBS version of the Oral Roberts Hour, Wall Street Week. Oh, this is too rich. I can't keep up or I'll laugh myself sick.

[mondo joe]

24. You were better off with the STARZ channel killing people.

:-)

[StrongBad]

31. LOL

:thumbsup:

[StrongBad]

30. I loves me some irony

Denouncing the evil business world, particularly within the context of the IT industry, whilst posting on an internet message board using a computer.

Only on DU...

[mondo joe]

32. Better yet, denouncing the business world but participating in SciFi

conventions.

Star Trek... Star Wars... Dune... Battlestar Galactica... Superman... X Men... all products of tiny independent studios, I guess.

[mondo joe]

18. That's not much for a graphic designer.

But new logos are generally not meant to deflect attention from killing a bunch of people either, so it's all good.

[tomreedtoon]

22. $25 is an honest fee, or would be in a fair world.

I know artists at science fiction conventions who sell paintings they have done, taking hours, for $25. I make $18 an hour tending two TV stations that make my employers millions of dollars a month. When I did some graphic design work for a convention, I charged what I considered a fair price, $15 an hour billed on the minute. (I seriously put a clock on myself when I did this work.) I still made plenty of money because (as often happens with businessmen) they had no imagination and changed their minds like Imelda Marcos trying to decide what shoes to wear.

Of course, in commercial art you can charge whatever someone is willing to pay. So, like I said, $25 would be a great fee for creating a logo for some bastard corporation. Especially since they would be convinced to spend $25 million on their pointless makeover.

[mondo joe]

25. Fees are relative to the market and to expenses.

I work with dinky little one-person shops who do graohic design who charge more per hour than $25 an hour.

But far be it from me to contradict the SF convention. :-)

[El Pinko]

34. The logo iself only accounts for a small portion of the $25 mil

The rest of it is on branding, advertising, positioning, etc.


Also, the sophistication and thoroughness of a logo done by a person at a convention for $25 per hour would not compare to that of an ad agency, which would involve a whole set of specs for how it would be used in different applications & color schemes, how it would be incorporated into a whole marketing concept.

Nothing against the work done by those people, but it's not like Starz just sat somebody down and had them crank out a logo in Adobe Illustrator in an hour.

[El Pinko]

33. Maybe not for a top designer. Most graphic designers make chump change.

They get out of school then go to an agency as an unpaid intern, then if they're lucky, they get hired and get a decent paycheck. But that's maybe 10% of any design school's graduating class. The rest end up doing dead-end shit work for peanuts.

Unless my kid had uneblievably extraordinary talent, I would not let him go to school to be a graphic designer. Been down that road and had to make a total career change upon realizing I was not a top-flight designer.

I'm very glad to have changed to the career I'm in now, but I could have saved a lot of money on student loan payments for going to the WRONG SCHOOL for me.

[John Kerry VonErich]

3. Will there be a new design for its sister station Encore?

nt

[Omaha Steve]

16. I have no idea

When I talk to Bobbi this weekend I'll ask.

[Ordr]

4. Congrats :)

[blondeatlast]

8. Adding my congrats to Ryan! Wonderful! nt

[frylock]

10. that's real nice..

good on your SIL. :thumbsup:

[mondo joe]

12. Congratulations to your family!

:toast:

[DemoTex]

13. Cool! Kudos to Ryan.

The guy has talent. I am envious of graphic designers (I can't draw a straight line!).

[Ilsa]

26. Big CONGRATULATIONS to RYAN! WOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!! nt

[MonkeyFunk]

29. That IS a great logo!

Congrats to your son-in-law. Very well done!