Comments on: Kuwait takes blogging seriously!

By: finlandi

finlandi — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 11:44:21 +0000

If only the rest of the Arab world would learn….

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/6385849.stm

0 0

By: mahmood

mahmood — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:18:26 +0000

Thanks for the investigation Ali, so it is confirmed that WordPress copied Wataniya’s logo. Another win for Wataniya!

0 0

By: Redbelt

Redbelt — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:04:49 +0000

why stop at branding?
Adverts have alot of “borrowing” as well. I can find examples, but … I can’t be bothered. :getlost:

0 0

By: Ali

Ali — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 07:52:32 +0000

If you browse through Alwataniya’s annual reports you’ll see their current logo printed on year 2002 report.

0 0

By: mahmood

mahmood — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 07:46:21 +0000

no press releases are available on their (Wataniya) website prior to June 2003 and I haven’t found the “branding” press release yet.. there must be one!

However, it does seem that Wataniya did have one of its ads copied according to Mark where a Taiwanese company allegedly copied one of their ads concepts, although I personally think that the idea is so cliché that one would be forgiven to have thought it only a mere coincidence.

The essence of the story is that we don’t know yet, and won’t until we get to know when the new branding was launched.

0 0

By: mahmood

mahmood — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 07:35:33 +0000

Thanks Ali, any idea when their new branding was done?

0 0

By: Ali

Ali — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 07:33:23 +0000

About WordPress:

WordPress started in 2003 with a single bit of code to enhance the typography of everyday writing and fewer users than you can count on your hands and toes. Since then it has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on hundreds of thousands of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day.

About Alwataniya:

Launched in December 1999, Wataniya Telecom has gone from strength to strength. Born into a monopoly telecom market, Wataniya Telecom is Kuwait’s first privately owned operator and has been a driving force in increasing the mobile communications market penetration in Kuwait to over 93 percent of the population; one of the highest penetration rates in the region.

0 0

By: Ali

Ali — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 07:21:33 +0000

Not that I like Alwataniya logo but being in telecoms industry I think the company existed long before wordpress. It’s intersting to see who cloned who!

0 0

By: mahmood

mahmood — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 07:00:46 +0000

I am not in a position to evaluate branding standards as I am not an authority. I hope that someone from the industry can shed some light as to why branding and advertising agencies do not heed your advice, but rather just modify a copy to arrive at a derivative.

As a simple observer who loves good and nice design, I am disappointed by this and think that this could be attributed to the low level of creativity and brand comprehension not only by the designers but also by their clients who accept such mediocrity.

0 0

By: Barry

Barry — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 06:52:54 +0000

The Middle East has produced some of the most exquisitely intricate and complex art using nothing but the written word, and all of these companies are so unoriginal in their logo designs? Something’s wrong here.

I guess there’s something to be said about Japanese companies and their use of visual symbols to create a striking design (such as their family crests which are often abstract designs or taken from nature)

0 0