Christmas: In Dire Need of a Brand Overhaul?

Studio 360, the public radio show hosted by Kurt Andersen, found the perfect antidote to the daunting task of creating yet another Christmas-themed show: treat it like a brand and ask Michael Bierut of Pentagram – and six of his partners – to redesign it.

Bierut’s take on Christmas as a brand (via the NY Times): “If we lived in a Christmas world, all our houses would be Victorian, and we’d be riding around in horses and carriages wearing top hats.”

Here’s Andersen’s: “It’s a big brand: 2,000-plus years of what marketers call brand equity in the making.”

So, where does one even start to topple such an overarching "brand"? First, identify the problems: it’s divisive, ugly and overcommercialized, according to Bierut. Second, come up with a plan to address these problems. Renaming Christmas, of course, isn’t an option, so the idea was to create an “overall umbrella brand” that is hip and Internet-friendly.

x.mas was the result – multi-functional as a domain alongside .com and .net and as a new designation instead of, say, Xmas. Of course, the new design is friendly to corporations and philanthropic endeavors as well. Picture Apple.mas, Target.mas, Nike.mas, the International X.mas Organizing Committee and you get the idea. We hope Pentagram will tackle Easter next.

If, like us, you missed the show this morning, you can find it here on WNYC’s web site.

Happy x.mas!

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jill Priluck in Arts and Events on December 23, 2006 2:06 PM

Comments [rss]

chris

what a stupid exercise. i feel like pentagram should lose credibility as a design firm for this, but instead more yuppie types will fawn over them.

Ed

This is a bit serious for this site, but Christmas originally was a pagan holiday. The Feast of the Nativity was moved to around the time of the winter solstice in an attempt to coopt the pagan holiday. Jesus was probably not born in December, and there are more important festivals on the church calendar. American Jews then emphasized Hannakuh so their children wouldn't feel out during Christmas.

All the Victorian stuff came from another attempt to coopt the holiday, in the nineteenth century. My understanding is that at that point it had become a big drinking festival, sort of like St. Patrick's day.

I'm not sure about the Christmas brand, but I'd like to see churches admit that the attempt to coopt the solstice holiday has failed, and pretty much treat it like All Saints Day/ Halloween, ie ignore it except for the Christmas day service itself.

Its time to stop trying to find "meaning" in something that has become pretty meaningless. Eventually there will be a backlash against the overblown nature of the holiday and we can just start over.

jojo

Let's change the name of Christmas into Dead Jesus Christ day! CELEBRATE THE DEATH OF JESUS!!!

mike

"no mas"

as in "no more consumerism, please"

Anon E. Mouse

As if the season wasn't already warped of meaning before from adopting pagen aspects, it's like they're putting the cap on it.

If we're going to take the origins away from Christmas, we might as well make it for everyone (which isn't really much of a stretch), and take away all of the heartless and thoughtlessness consumerism that surrounds it. In it's place, we put back the institutions of giving, friendship, and family. No more of this feeling forced to buy shit that someone is just going to toss out, or hide in the attic.

This way, no one is offended by it, less people are stressed by it, and people can just enjoy the holiday instead of hating it and what it has become.

If only ...