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Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Can’t you see the arrow, Grandma?


Probably everyone knows this but me. Perhaps not.

The girls said over and over there is an arrow in FedEx. “See it, see it! Right there between the E and the x.” No, I did not see it, until Laura drew me a picture. And, there it is.




That is so neat; I looked it up at once. It’s a famous story, at least in the world of advertising. When the company was founded in the eighties, its name was Federal Express. My company used them; you could schedule a pick up almost any time of the day or night. I can remember saying goodbye to a marketing guy, waiting for Federal Express to pick up a prototype.

The company did such a good job its customers fondly referred to it as Fed Ex. The owner of the company decided to rebrand it as FedEx, and hired an advertising company whose owner was a bit on the edge. Actually, he was a big proponent of white space. 

There were hundreds of logo designs proposed, but the advertising company owner actually came up with the design. He tinkered with type fonts as well as white space, and made a winner when he stretched the E and the x to touch.

They showed the design and several others to FedEx’s global brand manager, who saw the arrow at once. He was sworn to secrecy until the FedEx executives saw the five finalist designs and picked one, and he still had to point it out after the design with the arrow was selected.

FedEx carries the brand, not the other way around. The arrow is a statement to find, or not. The story seems to be making the rounds again. And when Laura or Emily says, “It’s the arrow, Grandma,” I look around for a FedEx truck.

29 comments:

  1. I am pretty certain I would have never seen it without the colouring in. Which makes me feel more than a little unobservant.

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  2. I had never seen the arrow! Thanks for showing this grampa where it figures in the logo of the excellent FedEx co.

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  3. Now I hope to see the FedEx truck in the neighborhood soon. I never saw the arrow before this; thanks for explaining it to me.

    betty

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  4. I didn't know that. The arrow popped right out when I googled the logo. Learn something new every day.

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  5. Sort of fun, isn't it. Someone pointed it out to me many years ago. Glad the girls showed you and think I know who pointed it out to them. Did not know the history and thank you for that. Only you!!!

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  6. I didn't know the story or see the arrow before either. Thank you for the info.

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  7. My son and step-daughter are graphic designers. It is a very artistic and creative avocation. I did not see the arrow, except perhaps subliminally.

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  8. The FedEx logo is one that is included in lists of logos that have hidden objects in them. It is fun to look them up.

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  9. I have never noticed it myself! Thanks for an interesting lesson today!

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  10. I have heard that before but not had an opportunity to look yet.

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  11. I have heard that before but not had an opportunity to look yet.

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  12. Interesting bit of history there. I've never noticed the arrow before either. Probably because we don't have Fed Ex out here.

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  13. Hari OM
    Do you know, I don't think I twigged that there was an official 'rebranding', and have continued calling them Federal Express (used to use them as well)... I just thought folk were being lazy with language; a common problem. The silly thing is I have seen a their vans and thought "huh I wonder if they realise they've got an arrow there" ... having no idea of this history and not twigging that they were using FedEx as their official title now!!! sigh... it's a 'does it really need my attention' thing I suppose... YAM xx

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  14. I never knew/noticed that before.

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  15. Their subliminal message escaped me, or maybe it didn't. I always tried to use the least expensive shipping vendor, but when I needed to get something there, on time, guaranteed, I trusted Fed->Ex.

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  16. Well, that's pretty interesting. I had no idea. I had never seen the arrow and did not know they changed their name to the shortened version. I used to use them for shipping my glass artwork when I lived in the city because they had a drop off location that was just a mile or so from my house and they stayed open til 9 PM. Now I just use the post office.

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  17. I never saw the x either, that blue flower is beautiful

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  18. Thanks for that, Joanne. It's my "learn something new" for today. Interesting bit of info. Wonder if DH knows that?

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  19. Very interesting ... It seems brilliant but then so few seem to notice -- unless of course somehow we do!

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  20. Interesting post. I was not aware of the arrow.

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  21. You learn something new every day, tell grand baby's thanks. I love trivia and this was a new one for me as well .

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  22. Not a bad brand. Speaking of branding, did hear about the America beer formerly known as Budweiser?

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  23. A very clever idea of the owner to show in a 'picture' what his company is dedicated to.

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  24. Someone sent me a Forwarded Mail a while back showing all the hidden messages in logos, such as amazon with it's arrow going from a(arrow)z. I thought it was a smile of satisfaction, but it just means it carries everything from a to z.

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  25. And thus was born a legend. Didn't know this about FedEx.

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  26. Oh, those marketing people are too smart for words!

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