More recently, Jaguar’s inflammatory 2024 rebrand—which included an abandonment of its long-used Optima typeface—prompted British politician Nigel Farage to call the overhaul “commercial suicide.”
These lessons—and Coke’s current enterprise—suggest that while brands probably can’t avoid pushback to updates to their visual identities, it pays to be mindful of how psychologically invested, even possessive, many consumers are of the brands they like.
“Whether they consciously notice them or not, well-known brands have an amazing ability to trigger memories and emotional responses,” said John Arriaza, creative director of Chase Design Group. “With brands that own a very strong brand color, it’s upon us as creators/designers to do diligence and look at other brands that own a similar color.”
The same applies to a typeface.
