Best of “Best of 2007″ lists

I’m a sucker for “best of the year” type lists. Here’s FLIR’s best of the “best of lists” we’ve discovered:

2007 Logo Trends
LogoLounge.com points out a few trends they noticed in logos this year: dos helix, rubber bands, pseudo crests and more.

YouTube’s Top 100 Videos of 2007
Based on view counts, most shared, most discussed, top rated and general popularity. The view counts on these videos are amazing! The video of the otters holding hands has been watched 9.3 million times!

YouTube’s Year in review Part One and Part Two

Google Zeitgeist 2007
Find out what the top search terms were in a variety of categories from the king of search Google.

TIME Magazine’s “50 Top 10 Lists of 2007″
TIME’s picks for best news stories, scandals, quotes, DVDs, photos, etc.

Bellingham Herald 2007 Photos of the Year
Best albums/songs/music video by genre as picked by the iTunes editor.

iTunes Editors Choice (you need iTunes installed to view)
Best albums/songs/music video by genre as picked by the iTunes editor.

Amazon.com 100 Best Books of 2007

Rotten Tomatoes Best Movies of 2007 

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Bellingham Logos & Your Competitive Universe

The Bellingham Herald is holding their annual “Who’s Logo Is It?” contest. The Herald takes local logos and removes company names and other identifying features from the logo reducing it down to just a few elements. Readers then try and figure out which logo belongs to what business, fill out their entry and then hope to win the $500 grand prize.

Besides being a fun scavenger hunt for readers (and beneficial to the companies who pay to have their logo in the contest) it’s a good reminder of what you should do periodically with your company brand and logo – look at it in the context of your competitive universe. A brand is similar to an investment portfolio in that about once a year you should look to see if it needs to be rebalanced in any way (messaging, position, design, etc.). For now though, let’s set the brand aside and focus on just the logo. Here’s a little exercise to try:

Step #1
Print out all the logos of your competitors and arrange them on a table.

Step #2
While reviewing the competitors’ logos that you’ve gathered ask yourself a few questions:

• Who appears to be the market leader/most professional/cheapest/most expensive based on the logo alone?
• Do any of the logos have anything in common (color, shape, symbolism, tag line, etc.)?
• Who does a really good job of conveying their unique value or market position?

Step #3
Now add your logo to the mix and ask yourself a few more questions:

• Do I stand out or differentiate myself in any way compared to the other logos or do I just blend in?
• What new/existing attributes exist in my company that aren’t coming through in my logo.
• Dose my logo look current or dated?

Keep in mind that this is just an exercise to measure the visual effectiveness of your logo in your competitive marketplace, not your entire brand. If you identify issues with your logo after this exercise, improving your logo can probably help, but a more comprehensive look at your entire brand may be needed.

Reason #2,784 Why People Are Wary of Advertising

FLIR Creative’s November Employee of The Month Is…

Congratulations to Scott Friesen
That’s three months in a row for Mr. Friesen. A new company record!!!

WOW

One of the most popular online role player games (World of Warcraft) plus cult celebrities equals great advertising.