Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Back in time: Nestlé tells a story

First Nestlé logo
On January 15, I did a small post on how GE turned to comic-books in 1950s to rekindle interest in science and technology among students in America. Over the last hundred years, multinational companies have used comics as a potent tool to showcase and sell a multitude of products and merchandise on one hand and educate the community on the other. In fact, early logos and adverts of companies bore a close resemblance to illustrations in children's storybooks. Others looked like picture postcards and movie posters.

The Nestlé Company was established in 1866 by Henri Nestlé, a trained pharmacist, to "help combat the problem of infant mortality due to malnutrition." Nestlé — which means 'little nest' in German — understood the power of branding. When one of his agents suggested that the nest could be exchanged for the white cross of the Swiss flag, Nestlé's response was firm: "I regret that I cannot allow you to change my nest for a Swiss cross... I cannot have a different trademark in every country; anyone can make use of a cross, but no one else may use my coat of arms."

The 'little nest' hasn't changed in nearly 150 years. You can read more about it at Nestlé.








Source: www.sparehed.com

4 comments:

  1. In a related note, I hear that Hostess is going under. I remember their ads on the sides of boxes. It always worked on me.

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  2. I like the clothes in that comic strip. Makes me think of F. Scott Fitzgerald. The comic strip style is so different from the elegant kind of illustration above. Thanks.

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  3. Charles, thanks for mentioning Hostess, a brand once familiar to me as Hostess Cookies. I just read that Hostess Brands, the maker of "Twinkies" and "Wonder Bread", recently filed for bankruptcy.

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  4. Ron, you're welcome! Early comic strips had a distinct artistic style that I miss in modern-day comic strips and panels. Fortunately, these are available in anthologies and compendiums detailing the history of comic strips and comic books.

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