Week 3: Brand Research (Task 4)
My chosen commercial brand is Penguin, specifically the Penguin Classics imprint of the brand. The reason I have chosen this brand to research is because Penguin is an iconic brand amongst readers and is often chosen by universities for set books for their courses. There have been several cover design changes throughout the years. The current design consists of the cover image taking up roughly ¾ of the cover, with a thin white bar underneath (with Penguin Classics and the logo on it), and below that is the title. This book cover design is arguably one of the most iconic features of the brand, as it is recognisable as Penguin, and is sleek and minimalistic. The main colours of the brand are black and orange, and are used widely throughout both the covers and marketing materials, and of course, in the logo itself. Their children’s imprint, Puffin, has a lot of the same features in the logo, with a puffin instead of a penguin. Penguin have also released a set of beautifully designed clothbound hardback classics, which have an audience amongst collectors or people looking for gifts. The main target audience for the brand would be anyone interested in reading, but mostly somewhat older readers, as younger readers would be more likely to read the Puffin imprint. The brand connects with its audience by presenting well designed covers which are simple yet effective, and often use paintings or statues as the cover images, showing the class of the books. Penguin is on multiple social media sites, to update readers using these sites as to release dates or book announcements. They are also found in essentially every bookshop, allowing them to reach multiple age ranges, as some people might not shop in physical bookshops often, choosing instead to buy books online.
(300 words)