The New HKPO Logo
16-11-12
Part of HKELD's mission is to talk about what's happening in the arts in Hong Kong now in real time. Last month I was invited to join a "protest" against the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra to rally against... their new logo. Now, I have been to one HKPO event in my time in HK. My classical musician family members positively groan at my lack of sophistication when it comes to music. I'm by no means an expert on the HKPO or on company branding. But I'm intrigued that a logo has gotten our art community so riled up they're "protesting" it. I've never heard of people protesting a logo change before. Talk about getting heckled!
I emailed both parties and asked them for a statement on the issue.
The head of the FB page against the new logo states in his email:
"The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra has recently changed its 30 year old logo for a new one to the surprise of its fans. A Facebook page, BRING BACK THE PREVIOUS HKPO LOGO has been set up to protest and ask the HKPO to bring back the previous one. The page was set up on September 27 and currently has over 200 members with the likes of Chow Fan Fu, a renowned music critic on the Mainland, in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau...At the core of the protest is the fact that the previous logo is a better representation of the orchestra. The protest is not about giving the previous logo a more updated look, but instead about the total change to a new one. As one netizen Eric Li posted on Facebook stated, "The dragon logo is one of the best around the world! The new one looks like an amalgam of HSBC and Fairwood Fast Food." or another netizen Steven Co posted, "The old one was a beautiful logo full of character and identifies HKPO as a Chinese music ensemble... I thought it (the new one) looks like a butterfly or a modern hammer and sickle! Well, HKPO, you got it very wrong this time!!!"
I also emailed and asked for a statement from the HKPO. It's been one month and they never got back to me. Take that as you wish.
Now, I don't know who's right or wrong here. I do know that I liked the old logo and thought the dragon clef was a cute image that had been associated with the HKPO for over thirty years. Obviously, their fans are very loyal to the brand and want to see some things stay the same. Maybe Philharmonic could have explored altering the exhisting dragon before jumping onto a new logo that is such a far departure from the previous branding. Companies totally have the right to re-brand themselves and I don't think the HKPO did anything terribly shocking or wrong. But sometimes re-brandings fail. I can think of infamous failures with New Coke in the 80's and The Gap re-branding in 2010. HKPO obviously poked a sleeping bear within their audience and they are not a happy bear. Hopefully the bear can be soothed back to sleep. Might I suggest some classical music?
Comments
Andy
Thank you for covering this! I hate the new logo.
16 November 2012Joe
I am one of these bears you speak of. I am not happy bear. Rar. Bring back the old logo!
16 November 2012