Mr Kipling brand history

Earlier this year, you could read about a new design for Mr. Kipling, a classic British brand for ready-made pies and cakes. The history of its conception and subsequent development in the last decade is a somewhat interesting one.

The brand was created in the 1960s by Rank Hovis McDougall who wanted revitalize their cake sales, but also wanted to utilise a new bakery. When the brand launched in 1967, the range included 20 products that were sold in premium boxes with handles.

Mr. Kipling himself never actually existed, he was an invention by marketing men who wanted to give a traditional family feel for something that is actually industrially produced. This was reinforced through ads suggesting Mr Kipling was a small shop baker, specifically in TV ads where James Hayter did the voice of Mr. Kipling. A successful example of the perhaps a bit disingenuous tactic of implying great heritage where none exists.
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Swiss Miss brand history

Swiss Miss is an American brand of cocoa mix powders and chocolate puddings. Having been with the American people for half a century, it is one those classic brands that many remember growing up with.

Thanks to the Internet, innovative companies and people willing to share their collections, we can get a good view of how the brand and its packaging has progressed through the years. A special thanks to Jason Liebig who has given me permission to use some images from his collection. If you want even more packaging nostalgia, you should visit his Flickr photostream.

Swiss Miss original logo, used from the 1960s until the mid-1980s.

The "instant cocoa mix" powder, which creates delicious hot cocoa by just adding water, was developed by Sanna Dairies in Wisconsin, who were also manufacturing instant dry milk. It was originally served on airlines. In the early 1960s, Sanna Dairies were packing the product under the name "Swiss Miss Instant Cocoa Mix" and selling it to grocers. The original packaging was developed with "old world" aestethics, with decorative flowers and an old calligraphy typeface for the logo. A newspaper article published in February 1963 explained it thusly:

"The chocolate flavor developed by Sanna Dairies is reminiscent of delicious Swiss milk chocolate... thus the name and the attractive "old world" design package."

The black-and-white image of a Swiss Miss package on the right is from a 1962 ad. It may well have been the very first Swiss Miss packaging design.
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New logo: Marathon Oil Corporation

Marathon Oil is an American oil company with origins in The Ohio Oil Company, foudned in 1887. Last year it ranked 41 on the Fortune 500 list. Last Friday, on July 1, the company was split in two. What in the petroleum business is referred to as the the upstream business (searching, recovering and producing crude oil and natural gas) stays with Marathon Oil, its subsidiary Marathon Petroleum, which included the downstream business (refining and selling oil and gas), was spun off into a separate company.

Marathon Petroleum will get to keep the logo previously used by both companies. A new logo for Marathon Oil was unveiled on June 30, and went live on various platforms when the spin-off was made official the next day.

The company claims the classic red M in a hexagon was introduced in 1962 when The Ohio Oil Company officially changed its name to the Marathon Oil Company.

The new symbol for the "Marathon Oil Corporation" is described as "an abstracted tri-color energy wave that symbolizes the momentum resulting from its upstream activity as well as the drive and innovation of the Company’s employees".

"The process for creating a new logo began in February with an employee survey. Results of the feedback emphasized eight key attributes of the Company: focused, energetic, innovative, nimble, socially responsible, ethical, driven and global. The logo was designed based on these key descriptors." - Marathon Oil Corporation press release

You can see a long animation of the new logo here.

Marathon Oil press release
Reuters