Microsoft have a new logo... budget approach taken

Microsoft have revealed their new logo today, the first change in 25 years. Unfortunately, that's about as exciting as the news gets and it's fair to say that the resulting logo is a little bit of a disappointment...

Given the increased pressure of Windows 8 not going down too well, IE losing it's hold on browser dominance and the fact that Apple have now been recognised as the most valuable company ever you'd think they would have put in a little more effort.

Jeff Hansen, Microsoft's general manager of brand strategy was quoted as saying "The majority of the items that people see from the company - websites, marketing, communications - people will be seeing the new logo pretty quickly."

Even though it does look like something you would see on a budget line of food in the local supermarket, at least they're still here to have a new logo after 25 years, which can't be said of some other tech companies. But, it'll be interesting to see if they're still around to reveal the next one in 25 years time!

Content refresh is about to start

Last year, when I was in my previous post, I decided to blog on the progress of the Content Management System project. It was a great way of sharing progress, ideas and issues with the wider community and received some great feedback.

Now that I have a new role and a new project I think it's time to do the same thing!

So, starting today the new CMS project is kicking off at the University of Hertfordshire and we're tackling content first... always a tricky subject! There is a planned 9 month content refresh schedule in place where we will be looking to correct all broken links, spelling mistakes and dodgy content. The main aim being that we will deliver a faster, leaner site which is easier to navigate and maintain. Not hoping for too much really!

In the mix will be a number of useful resources including Siteimprove and Google Analytics. We'll also be unveiling our new Content Management System and Enterprise Search provider shortly.

First areas to get our attention will be the School of Law and the School of Humanities with the School of Education following on shortly. Interesting and busy times ahead!

Olympic madness hits London...

I was lucky enough to visit the Olympic park on Saturday to have a wander around, sit in the sun and soak up the atmosphere. I can honestly say that it was fantastic, the volunteers were engaging and friendly, the train service was on-time and not over crowded and the park looks stunning.

What did strike me though was the amount of branding scattered through out the park. I'm sure it wasn't only me that picked up on the fact that all drinks were supplied by Coca Cola, you could only pay with Visa and that their brand names, logos and colours were all over the place! I can appreciate that they have paid a lot of money to sponsor the event and this is their return but does that approach of blanket advertising really work?

Well, according to IAB, it appears that it does:

Report from @iabuk @iab @mojiva shows UK consumers more likely to respond to mobile ads from official Olympic sponsors bit.ly/QVSQFE
— IAB UK (@IABUK) August 1, 2012

A winning situation for the sponsors and a bonus for the visitors that the sponsorship money has delivered such an amazing Olympic Park. If you can get there then it's well worth a visit!