Seriously miss this gentleman....

Although this video is more than 30 years old—the tenets and values, the tack, the energy, the goals, and love of branding that we share—still remain.

Early last year, the Italian government requested design submissions in an effort to support Italy's worldwide marketing efforts. Landor Associates competed against 70 agencies to design a new visual ID to represent Italy as a worldwide travel destination.

The full article may be read in Landor's press release Landor Designs Logo to Promote Italy Worldwide. And the fruition of Landor's winning submission is below.

It's an interesting combination.  The main typefaces are various weights of Futura, to provoke a modern vogue feeling. The human-esque green "t" is a little like an upside down Italian peninsula. The letter "i" is a Bodoni variation—and interestingly the Landor wordmark also has been a variation of the same Bodoni typeface for the past six decades.

So, I suppose, not only is there a little Italian in all of us, but also a little bit of Landor in Italy.

Before I saw the Orangina ad as presented by Landor Brand Strategist Martin Bishop's Brand Mix, I would have been able to name a dozen or more Worst Ads Of 2008 without even trying. As advertising disconnect continues to deteriorate the connection to meaningful brand dialog, I believe the list should now include the top 100 (at least).

Now if someone can just help me remember what I was going to say, and help me get my jaw back up...

Design. I love design, and like Peter Knapp, Executive Creative Director EMEA at Landor in the video presentation below... I am absolutely passionate about it. See why design is imperative, not just a 'nice to have' in building a successful brand.

Your thoughts?

Greetings... Finally, finally, after seven long years, I had the chance to create a new website for VOLCKMANN.COM  [ beta ] with some portfolio at

http://www.volckmann.com

It's a start.

Russell