Brand on the run

We've had about a week now to digest the design of the new Liverpool brand and it's fair to say that it's been as warmly received as it was ever going to be.

What is certain is that it was received much more positively than the pitiful London 2012 Olympics branding! The City of Liverpool's decision to launch the brand with an accompanying vision documentto '…improve the lives of every man, woman and child in the city.' was a good one. It added depth and substance to the launch: something that could have provided an easy target for the nay sayers.

What is also interesting to note is how traditional Liverpool's approach to developing a new brand is. It has settled on an emblem using a representation of the city's skyline and this is exactly the right place to start as the skyline is recognisable around the world.

Consider how different this is to the current and rather convoluted Manchester 'non-brand' brand: original modern. The fact that it requires explanation leads you to its understanding. The theory goes something like: Manchester already is a brand and it means something 'out there in the real world' regardless of the design of a logo that you slap on it. This meaning is a product of everything that is connected to it, its past and present. A brand is therefore not something you design from scratch in a studio. But you can define and settle on an essence, which sums up a city's uniqueness or ideal, around which new ideas can coalesce and a better future forged. In Manchester's case these are originality and modernity.

So is Liverpool the same? Does it need a new brand? Can it possibly have one through a new design? No, of course it doesn't and it hasn't got one. What it has got is a new logo which will, in time and to an as yet undefined level, become part of its brand.

The city will always mean much more than any logo can sum up. The vibrancy, history, determination and splendour of Liverpool are not easily summed up in one pithy statement, partly as they are, in some senses, contradictory.

And maybe that's a starting point in helping the evolution of a new Liverpool brand.

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