Storming, Forming, Norming and Performing over time..

In a sense we are all right now storming our thoughts and understanding but sooner this will become the norm. The expected effect will happen only when the Brand – Performs as it Promises.

Adding my 2 pence from my blog http://digitaloman.blogspot.com

I agree and disagree with Muscati on two counts- yes there is something odd about it and I think its the choice of colours which excludes the earthy brown hues. To my mind the earth shades juxtaposed with the aquamarine blues is what Oman in all its visual splendour immediately comes across as. Also I too belive abandoning the khanjar since it is a weapon is an over-reaction and childish- would you change the crest of Oman too just because it has weapons in it.

But I dont agree with the observation that the eye movemnet is from the left to the right- in fact the puple dhow curve on the right actually leads you in.

Its so important for any such initiative to have ‘buy -in’ from the people of the nation. Wouldn’t the arabic calligraphy, bring in a sense of pride and appreciation when he/she actually understands the complex interspersing of the curves and the elements they signify. I think this logo will grow on people
And the Sultanate added to it somehow brings a unique majestic touch to it!

I think its a great step forward and must have involved alot of effort. Kudos to the team for understanding the need and conceptualising it. Way to go!

And Arun you are right- brandoman is a funny url- especially when on the day after launch it does not work. But to risk repeating myself, as per the official from the Ministry of Tourism who was on the same table yesterday, this is not the tourism logo – The tourism logo will probably have a slogan and will build on this one.

And what does the line in the ad mean? -our universities are our legacy!!! – a legacy is something which is handed down from the past – can Oman with very young, nascent universities say those are their legacies – no Nalandas or Taxilas here – i wonder what it says in Arabic – could be a case of misplaced transliteration

“Looking at the brand mark from right to left, the first colour, dawn purple, represents the dhow; Musandam aquamarine green is inspired by Oman’s rich marine environment and the turtle in particular; sky blue is taken from the silhouettes of the mountains; and the Salalah green is the essence of frankincense.”

Well I’m glad they explained that one. How many people are going to say when looking at the logo, hey, that purple is a dhow, or wow, that aquamarine is a turtle!

And the mountains don’t have that colour blue.

Sorry. I’m not into semiotics.

One of the greatest truths in advertising & branding is that the work that is done by the experts will ultimately be reviewed by the end users, customers, public, laymen… whatever you may call them. Because the work is ultimately meant to serve them a purpose. That’s where the finished product has to face the litmus test!

Yes, the logo doesn’t instantly give away the Arabic word ‘Oman’. Also, how many people overseas would have understood Arabic (if you discount people who don’t follow the language?)

Again, with reference to the usage of ‘Sultanate’ – it’s very likely this logo will have more applications in geo-political & commercial contexts than tourism. May be it was a conscious decision to retain that identity.

Here’s an interesting catch: should http://www.brandoman.om be the website of OBMU? Not in my opinion. They should have a website that would be http://www.obmu.om. What they have created – Brand Oman – is bigger than OBMU itself.

Also, a country needs to have different URLS / websites for different purposes… a good example is the USA. While tourism can be visitoman.gov.om, e-governance can be egov.oman.om, ministry of health can be health.oman.om and so on. Oman.om can be like the ‘mother ship’ or the portal / gateway that leads to all the other web channels.

The Khanjar is a very powerful national symbol. But don’t you think it’s better understood by people who live in Oman than people overseas?

This reminds of an interesting case study:

Mozambique has an AK-47 on its national flag… now assuming that one has no clue of how things work in Mozambique, what is the first impression one gets on seeing the national flag of Mozambique?

My little research on Mozambique’s flag tells me that attempts to change the flag without the rifle have met with great resistance from the people. At least 169 proposed changes to the flag have been rebuffed since 2005. The rifle symbolizes the nation’s struggle for independence & determination to protect its freedom. What’s so negative to a foreign eye may not be the same for the native eye.

I’m not saying that the frankincense smoke is a better symbol vis-a-vis the Khanjar, but I’m saying that there are always decisions that are taken that go beyond the conventional black-or-white way.

That ‘sultanate’ is included in the logo smacks of local pressure. The top half of the logo doesn’t integrate with the bottom half.

I assume, that as a responsible agency, it trialled the impact of the logo on well-defined cross-section of the target audience. Didn’t it? Were there alternative designs?

Ironically, I read something somewhere yesterday, possibly in a statement from Landor, that the Oman branding is about the people. So why aren’t the people represented in the brand logo?

I assume they are using the url http://www.brandoman.om because it is going to be the address of the Oman Brand Management Unit’s website, not the website of Oman itself. If I am wrong then, I definitely agree with you that the choice of url is totally wrong.

I am amazed how no one in the government has tried use Oman.com or Oman.om as the main address for Oman related web content, especially with regards to marketing Oman as a destination.

If I was involved in the branding exercise, I wouldn’t have agreed with the thought process which analyzes the khanjar as a weapon. Most countries only dream of having as strong a national symbol as the Omani khanjar. I refuse to believe that they couldn’t think of variations on the theme. They could have tried to redraw the khanjar, or use it as an inspiration for a new logo. Instead Oman Air went for an extremely generic logo which is apparently based on smoke from burning of incense. Smoke, on a plane?!!!! And now brand Oman is Arabic calygraphy? I bet it was someone in the OBMU who suggested the idea. I can’t accept that a world renowned branding company like Landor would have suggested this idea to Oman.

Another thing, I would have marketed Oman simply as Oman, not Sultanate of Oman.

At least the old logo was obviously one intended to appeal to just tourists, and made its point.

Who is the target group for the brand? Other Arab countries?