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Birth of an AVENGER!

Comics…everybody has heard of them. Those books with the pictures in them, the ones that even adults are caught reading. Yeah, you know the ones. Some people love them, others hate them. Either way, these bad boys are here to stay. Many comics have been created over the decades with only some gaining the notoriety beyond what their creators had dreamed of. Among those comics, one series stands out as one of the most well-known: The Avengers.

This series got its start appearing on the pages of Marvel Comics magazines. It consisted of a group of superheroes that fought villains that couldn’t be defeated by just one hero. Though the members of this group would change from time to time, this concept did not. As it gained popularity among the comic fan-base, creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby would later publish it as its own stand alone comic series in 1963 with The Avengers #1.

As a comic increases in popularity, there will almost certainly be spin-offfs (separate series revolving around a character(s) of the original series) and The Avengers have had plenty.  This includes “several annuals, miniseries and a giant-size quarterly sister series that ran” for a short time in the 1970s. These spin-offs were followed by the relaunching of the series with a new story that was separate from the existing story (1996 to 2004). This series is still running, with the latest one having debuted in 2010.

Logos:

 

Sources

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avengers_(comics)#Publication_history

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3094/2861480389_251a6ea3ff.jpg

http://www.sidekickcomicsuk.com/blogs/media/blogs/sidekick//logo_AvengersWebring.gif

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_O4Q5drHqDLo/TFntGMqKp6I/AAAAAAAAACA/kbhwhdgbAtU/The_avengers_logo%202.jpg

http://www.gorillawire.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/The-Avengers-logo.jpg

http://www.toymania.com/toyfair2000/toybiz/images/avengers_logo.jpg

http://snarkerati.com/movie-news/files/2010/11/the-avengers-logo.jpg

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_O4Q5drHqDLo/TFntGMqKp6I/AAAAAAAAACA/kbhwhdgbAtU/The_avengers_logo%202.jpg

Blount Bridgers Garden

The Birth of a Fast Food Franchise

Burger King…that name conjures up the thought of freshly-made hamburgers and mouthwatering fries, late night drive-thrus and incredible customer. It is one of the best “fast-food chains in the United States,” second only to McDonald’s. Today, Burger King has over 11,544 restaurants, which can be found in all 50 states and 56 other countries. However, one can only wonder how it came to be so successful.

It all began in 1954 with two young men from Miami: James McLamore and David Edgerton. Mclamore and Edgerton had the idea of drawing in the “baby boom families” of postwar America with hamburgers served fresh and cheap. With many other similar businesses, however, they had to make theirs stand out amongst the crowd. Thus, Burger King became the very first restaurant to provide a dining area for its customers. Later in 1957, it would introduce the whopper to its menu while maintaining low prices. When home televisions became the norm, Mclamore and Edgerton began to advertise their restaurants through commercials.

All of their hard work paid off beyond what anyone expected. The founders successfully expanded the franchise to include over 274 restaurants.  By the time they sold it in 1967, its worth had increased to about $18 million.

The logo:

 

For more information on the Burger King logo, go to: http://www.famouslogos.org/burger-king-logo

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Burger-King-Corporation-Company-History.html

Blount Bridgers Visors

WAAA Logos

And then there were…toys?

Toys”R”Us is a name known to many people throughout the United States. Starting in the late 1940s, it has since become one of the go-to hot spots when looking to buy toys for the little ones. This franchise, however, had modest beginnings. It all began with a young man’s dream. That dream would become the success of a lifetime.

The man in question was Charles Lazarus, a 25 year old native of Washington, DC. Raised by his father who owned a bicycle shop, Lazarus grew helping with his father’s business. As he got older, he began to want a store of his own, one that catered to children born after the war. The first store he opened in 1948 was a baby furniture store by the name of Children’s Bargain Town. He ran the store by himself, selling and even delivering to people’s home.

He was always on the lookout for new ways to please his customers. Thus, he began to introduce toys for infants and small children. He realized early on that these items improved  business for his store. This was mainly due to the fact that, unlike furniture, toys broke and/or lost popularity almost constantly. When this parents would return for new and better replacements. Thus,  Lazarus began selling even more toys.

Lazarus would later change his store so that his customers could pick an item themselves and purchase it in the store. When he opened his second store, he opted for the name Toys”R”Us where the “R” was backgrounds. Though the name initially drew some criticism for being grammatically incorrect, he knew he had a hit. Having a gift for understanding the average person that made up the majority of shoppers, he succeeded in expanding his business well beyond its humble beginnings. By 1978, he had even acquired loyal customers all over the country. With the addition of the mascot Geoffrey^®the Giraffe and the catchy jingle “I Don’t Want to Grow Up, I’m a Toys“R”Us Kid^®,” Lazarus’s store would become one of the most popular children’s stores of the world.

Logos:

1969-2000

2000-2006

2006-Present

Geoffrey^®the Giraffe: http://www.toysrusinc.com/about-us/history/charles-lazarus/

http://www.toysrusinc.com/about-us/history/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toys_%22R%22_Us

KFC: Then and Now

Kentucky Fried Chicken is a popular fast food restaurant in the United States that serves its customers southern-style food such as fried chicken and cole slaw. “Based in Louisville, Kentucky,” Kentucky Fried Chicken, or KFC, began when founder Colonel Harland Sanders started selling his fried chicken at a gas station in Kentucky, one of which he himself owned. It was the 1930s and theGreat Depression was  still affecting Americans. Though he was gaining prestige for his chicken, it took 30 minutes to cook it. Feeling that it was taking too long, he switched from the use use of a skillet to that of a pressure fryer in 1939. This resulted in a significantly reduced cooking time. In 1940, Sanders created what came to be known as the Original Recipe.

Sanders sold his properties in the 1950s (I think) and set off to sell his chicken to restaurants. It was Pete Harman that who became the first to partner with him, opening the first KFC restaurant in 1952. “By the early 1960s,” Sanders had successfully sold his chicken in more than 600 outlets all over the U.S. and Canada. He would later sell the entire “franchise” for two million dollars, which is the equivalent of $14,161,464 in the present day.

The logos:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kfc

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_d1yewYtBxw0/Rq2JHAYmyBI/AAAAAAAAABg/ZSE5Rw5-PV8/s320/kfc-logo-history.jpg

The History Behind the Adidas Logo

In the early 1900s, a man by the name of Adi Dassler created what would become one of the most popular brands of shows in today’s world: the Adidas. The first world war had come to an end and Dassler, a baker in Germany, was looking for a better means to make money. His decision to make shoes came about at a time when raw materials for shoes were all but nonexistent. Thus, he began using materials from such things as “old tires, helmets, army tents” and more so that his business would stay afloat.

Though Dassler’s first shoes were bedroom slippers, he later began making sports shoes for gymnastics and soccer. This was due to his love of sports. His business soon took off in Germany, eventually allowing him to have a factory to make his shoes. Still, this was not enough. Dassler wanted his shoes sold in countries  around the world. In order to make this dream a reality, he came up with a smart yet simple marketing plan involving one very important sports event: the Olympics.

Dassler decided to boost his sales by convincing athletes that’d be in the Olympics to wear his shoes while competing. After the German team wore the shoes in the 1928 Olympics, demands for his shoes went up immediately. When the following Olympics came around, all of the athletes wearing his shoes won medals. With that, his brand name became “synonymous with victory.” With Dassler’s consistent marketing in the Olympics and other sporting events, his shoes gained a strong foothold in the shoe industry, one that has remained to this day. This is due to the fact that Dassler always created high quality shoes that gave him a competitive edge over other shoe companies, as well as his creative marketing skills. Though adidas suffered a few setbacks after Adi Dassler’s death, it eventually regained its success and popularity amongst consumers. Whatever the future may hold for this company, Adidas is here to stay.

Just like the Adidas shoes, it’s logo underwent several changes in its quest to appeal to consumers. The evolution of Adidas’ logo is listed below:

1967 – This logo featured 3 diagonal stripes from left to right with the brand name underneath on Adidas sports shoes.

1972 – This particular logo, known as the Trefoil Adidas logo,  showed the diversity in Adidas brand. Making its first appearance in this year, it would later became a corporate symbol.

1997 – The three striped Adidas Logo was re-introduced after being reengineered by Peter Moore, who was the creative director of Adidas at that time.

1998- After Adidas merged with Salomon, a new logo was created that would show off the values of both companies. It kept the blue of the Adidas logo and the red of the Salomon logo, but changed the three bands so that they formed a diamond. The two outer bands were meant to represent arms of an athlete reaching up in victory.

2005 – The “Word Mark” logo for Adidas is created,  showing a logo is clear, simple, and confident in its presentation while showing leadership.

2008- The Adidas logo incorporates the Trefoil used in 1972 to look like a flame for the Olympic torch in honor of the 2008 Olympics

 

http://www.successprinciplesonline.com/business-success-stories/how-adidas-was-created-from-waste-materials-to-world’s-no1-sports-shoes-manufacturer/719.htm

http://www.logoblog.org/adidas_logo.php

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/20/Adidas_Logo.svg/562px-Adidas_Logo.svg.png

http://hawriting.wikispaces.com/file/view/adidas_logo.gif/102833115/adidas_logo.gif

http://hawriting.wikispaces.com/file/view/adidas-logo-large.gif/102835203/adidas-logo-large.gif

http://phenomenonsofhistory.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/adidas-salomon.gif

http://retroskatestickers.com/store/images/ad_adidas.jpg

http://www.nitrolicious.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/adidas_olympics_logo.jpg

The Progression of the Crayola Logo

From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, companies that manufactured crayons really began to market these art tools through the use of creative packaging. They would sell them with the promise of an art product that was easy and safe enough for children to use while being able to create pictures without the use of water or the worry of making a mess. One such company was Crayola, created by Binney&Smith Co. In the beginning, the logo on the packaging included a simple font with a girl drawing on a canvas with a Crayola crayon. The colors were mute yellow-greens and red-purples. Later on, the company dropped the girl and made the logo cursive/fancy with a decorated boarder. The color scheme was yellow, white, and blue-purple. Then in 1905, the font was simplified and the color scheme changed to a duller blue-green on a muted yellow-orange background. These packages held eight crayons per box. The 52 crayon box of the late 1930s to early 1940s simplified the fancy border but kept the color scheme. By the 1970s, the current color scheme  of yellow-orange and blue-green was in place, as well as a new slick package to hold the crayons. Crayola had branched out to create other such art products as colored pencils and even markers. Even though the color scheme remains to this date, a picture of the crayons (or markers or colored pencils) are on the front of the box. On some boxes, blue and red font have been added. These bright colors are used to appeal to young children for whom this product is marketed to.

A March 1905 ad

1905 New box design

1939-1944 Logo

1970s Binney and Smith Crayola Crayons Vintage Advertisement

Present day

Sources:

http://www.toysrus.com.au/static/uploads/crayons.jpg

http://crayoncollecting.com/hoc04.htm

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Crayola_Ad_1905.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4006/4350668059_d929fc5c70.jpg

http://cdn.wn.com/pd/2d/3b/9a2023ec6cbd4984786e2cac7423_grande.jpg