Licensors have over the years become more flexible in how their IP is integrated into licensed merchandise, as they look for ways to keep their properties and products fresh and embrace ideas from their licensees on how to do so. A relatively new manifestation of this trend is some licensors’ openness to redesigning their corporate logos by creatively combining them with their licensees’ logo, for a limited time as part of a collaboration. This is something that would almost never have been considered a decade ago. Even now, the standard in most partnerships is to design a mark that incorporates the partners’ logos in separate but equal ways.
Three examples illustrate this newfound adaptability in logo design, a phenomenon that has started to emerge over the past few years:
- When Ralph Lauren paired with Fortnite, it redesigned its Polo logo to substitute a Fortnite loot llama for its traditional polo horse. Other elements of the collaboration included digital apparel and accessories for use in Fortnite, physical collections based on those digital items available at retail, and activations such as in-game concerts and Twitch streams.
- Balmain’s collaboration with Mattel for the Barbie movie featured a version of the Balmain Paris logo in the typeface and pink color of the film’s logo. The 50-piece unisex collection itself included a variety of apparel and accessories, most combining the fashion label’s well known signature products (e.g., handbags) and elements (certain fabric designs) with Barbie’s fashion aesthetic and color palette.
- One of the components of Ziploc’s partnership with luxury retailer BEAMS consisted of graphic t-shirts produced by Fruit of the Loom. The image on the shirt combined Ziploc’s and Fruit of the Loom’s brands by putting the fruit depicted in the latter’s logo into a Ziploc bag stamped with that company’s logo. The t-shirts were part of a broader collaboration between Ziploc and Beams that featured Ziploc-inspired transparent bags and accessories.
For trademark-protection reasons, owners of corporate IP remain strict about ensuring that licensees and other partners follow their guidelines to the letter when it comes to the use of their logos on products, packaging, and marketing materials. But as these examples show, there is room—on special occasions—for some creativity that offers a fun new twist while preserving brand integrity.
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