John Lewis Christmas Ad Gets Me Again

The leaves are falling. There’s a chill in the air. I’ve finished eating all my kids’ halloween candy. That can mean only one thing. It’s almost Christmas! It also means it’s time for the 2015 John Lewis Christmas commercial! I’m talking about John Lewis, the upscale department store chain in Great Britain (I’m not sure if […]

All Black Everything: New Zealand’s Powerful Rugby Brand

The Music City Miracle. The Band is on the Field. The Miami-Duke Debacle. Americans love watching football players lateral the ball. Of course, that is the foundation of an entire sport. Rugby – the fastest growing sport in the world. And the biggest event in rugby – The Rugby World Cup – concluded last week […]

Rebranding in the NBA: Where Bullets Become Wizards

In honor of tipoff to the NBA season, I’m returning to my favorite blog topic: rebranding in sports. For those of you that have followed my blogging exploits (thanks, mom and dad), you may recognize this as my go-to subject. Today, we tackle the Washington Bullets rebranding to the Washington Wizards. It is one of the […]

Trust Tree Ad Of the Week: Bryan Wilson, Texas Law Hawk

Here in the Tree, we like to keep our (hawk)eyes out for great branding. From time to time, we are so inspired by a branding effort that we give out our not-really-coveted “Of the Week” award. Today is one of those weeks. Meet Bryan Wilson, the Texas Law Hawk. Earlier this week, the Law Hawk dropped this […]

Kappa Sigma Launches New Webpage For Official Logos

The Kappa Sigma fraternity recently unveiled a central location for all of its official logos. All of the official Kappa Sigma logos can now be found on the fraternity’s website. Kappa Sigma wants its members to use the official logos to keep consistent branding throughout the entire fraternity. This helps Kappa Sigma distinguish itself from […]

New Book Offers Deep Dive into Logo Design

Trademarks are a pretty rich subject. Proof: A Slate magazine article reports that famous graphic designer Jens Müller is releasing a book that traces the roots of modernist design influences on corporate logos. The book, Logo Modernism, includes a history of corporate logos and other logo-related essays. The main feature of the book is a beautiful catalogue […]

Nashville Gets Outdoor Ice Rink for 2016 NHL All-Star Game

The NHL season is well underway and our hometown team, the Nashville Predators, have started the season 2-0. Nashville may be a Southern city known for Southern things like biscuits and country music, but we have one thing in common with those yankees up north. This town is hockey crazy. I believe this is not only the result […]

Celebrity Chefs Cook Up Trademark Success in Nashville

Nashville is world famous for its music industry, but it’s the culinary scene that’s getting a lot of attention recently. In addition to a vibrant local food scene, celebrity chefs like Jonathan Waxman, Sean Brock, Maneet Chauhan, Dale Levitski, Richard Blais, and Donald Link have all recently opened restaurants. In today’s increasingly competitive restaurant industry, brands […]

Boom Beach Logo Lesson

Our director of Accounting and Finance, George, recently got me into a mobile game called “Boom Beach.” Boom Beach is a combat strategy game set in fictional tropical islands. In the game, you build and develop your island base with troops, ships, defenses and other resources. You can attack evil “Blackguard” bases or other players near you. You […]

#DeepWater: The Branding of Vanderbilt Football

The Vanderbilt football season opens tonight against Western Kentucky. Western is a trendy pick to beat the Commodores, but optimism reigns supreme on West End avenue (at least at this time of year). Vandy running back Ralph Webb is a budding star, and the defense should be considerably better this year with head coach Derrick […]