GM blue-block logo is down, but not out

David Kiley — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 16:29:00 EST

GM's Renaissance Center headquarters shortly before the new sign was unveiled

The familiar blue-block General Motors logo that has adorned the automaker's headquarters, ads and websites for many years is down from the building, but not all the way out of existence.

GM dropped the old familiar logo from its Renaissance Center headquarters on November 18, ushering in a new era with its initial public offering of stock. The sign was replaced with a 625-foot LED electronic board that will show logos from the company's past. The sign was switched on as GM's stock began trading again on the New York Stock Exchange.

The two-story blue-block GM log has also been stricken from the GM.com website. It does still live, however, on GM's media website, and on an internal GM site. GM spokesperson Pat Morrissey says that the ol' familiar blue-block GM logo that brought the automaker through the Jack Smith and Rick Wagoner eras, and through Pontiac Azteks and Saab 9-7Xs, will not disappear from GM's typographic life. "[Chief marketing officer] Joel Ewanick thought the building and website needed fresh looks, but we will not be getting rid of the familiar logo all together," says Morrissey.

GM has long been ambivalent about its corporate logo and brand. In 2009, the year GM went into bankruptcy, it dropped the GM logo from its vehicles. And it has steadily moved away from advertising GM as a brand on TV, radio and print. The irony, though, is that it did not change the trading ticker symbol from the old company. The company trades as GM on the NYSE. On the Toronto Stock Exchange, however, GM gave up the ticker symbol when it de-listed from the TSE in 2007. Now, it wants it back from Geo Minerals Ltd., which took the symbol, and is offering to buy it back from the mining company.

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The Greenwash to End All Greenwashing? GM reportedly pondering changing logo color

Sebastian Blanco — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:27:00 EST

Filed under: Green, Marketing/Advertising, GM

2010 Chevy Spark - Click above for high-res image gallery

General Motors has certainly been pumping out a greener message for the last few years, but, on the eve of its likely emergence from bankruptcy, it looks like it might be ridiculously difficult to miss the company's shift to a new and very public eco-mindset: The General's traditional blue square logo could become green. No, really.

While no official decision has yet been made, insiders are saying that the background color change is being considered, "in an effort to show consumers that it is leaner and greener, more focused on fuel efficiency and better able to make quick decisions," says MSNBC.

The fuel efficiency meaning of a possible new green logo is easy to understand and the "quick decisions" part reflects a new GM that will likely have 35 percent fewer executives to go along with fewer employees overall. More announcements on these issues and the fate of the Spark minicar could come tomorrow, when GM is expected to emerge from bankruptcy.

The real color change that GM needs to make, of course, is a shift from red to black - but that's significantly harder than swapping pixels in a logo.

Gallery: Geneva 2009: Chevy Spark

[Source: MSNBC | Logo Image: Adam Morath/AOL]

The Greenwash to End All Greenwashing? GM reportedly pondering changing logo color originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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