Brand logos have become synonymous with status, class, and even culture. Nike's iconic slogan and its swoosh logo became a symbol of motivation and started a global culture of getting what you want because you have no excuse not to.
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00:00Whether you notice it or not, logos are absolutely everywhere.
00:03From the time you're jolted awake by your alarm clock to the moment you fall asleep,
00:07you are bombarded with hundreds of logos every day.
00:10Contract or no, I will not bow to any sponsor.
00:14Most of these branding images might go unnoticed during your daily grind.
00:17But you better believe they've been designed to make an impression, and will come to you
00:21when you're in need of whatever they're selling.
00:23Those carefully crafted commercial images might not always be esteemed works of art,
00:27but oftentimes there's more to them than meets the eye.
00:30Here are some brand logos you see all the time that have a deeper meaning than you probably
00:34realized.
00:35RCA
00:36The famous logo of an adorable dog focused on a phonograph was taken from a painting
00:40titled His Master's Voice by Francis Barad.
00:43The UK brand The Gramophone Company bought the rights to the painting in 1899, changed
00:48their company name to HMV in honor of the painting, and was eventually bought out by
00:52Victor Talking Machine, which became RCA.
00:55Despite so many corporate ownership shifts, the dog stayed.
00:58If you've ever complained about the oversaturation of advertising in the United States, you can
01:02definitely blame it partly on this dog, who had his mug plastered from New York to Los
01:06Angeles before Spuds McKenzie was even a twinkle in his great-great-great-grandfather's eye.
01:13Toyota
01:14While driving behind a Prius that's going 10 miles per hour under the speed limit on
01:17a single-lane highway, were you ever stuck asking yourself, what the heck is the Toyota
01:21logo supposed to be?
01:23What is it, a saintly almond wearing a halo?
01:26Toyota is the world's largest auto manufacturer and has one of the most recognizable logos,
01:30but the meaning behind the loops are a mystery to most people.
01:34Toyota unveiled its current logo in 1990, and it's probably safe to say that they're
01:38not going to retire it for a while.
01:40The three ellipses are supposed to symbolize the unification of the hearts of customers
01:44and the heart of Toyota products, and the background is for the brand's technological
01:48advancement and the boundless opportunities ahead.
01:51So definitely not a holy nut.
01:53Eh, well, forgive and forget.
01:56NBC
01:57The famous peacock logo displayed by NBC was designed by John J. Graham in 1956 to showcase
02:03the network's slate of colorful shows.
02:06The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC.
02:12Basically, NBC was capitalizing on the trend of color TVs, which were slowly entering American
02:17homes.
02:18Other networks eventually followed suit with their own prismatic branding efforts.
02:22NBC's peacock has had a few stylistic changes since the 1950s, and even though we now have
02:27ultra-HD TVs with more colors than we can fathom, the logo still represents color on
02:32the network.
02:34Tesla
02:35If you want an electric car that doesn't look like something Mr. Bean would drive, chances
02:39are you might land on leasing a Tesla.
02:42Since 2003, Elon Musk has changed how electric vehicles are viewed, but what people might
02:47not know is that the T symbol doesn't represent the brand's name.
02:50Instead, Musk revealed that, similar to SpaceX, the T is like a cross-section of an electric
02:55motor, just as the X is like a rocket trajectory.
02:58Versace
03:00To create the symbol that embellishes so many fine sunshades, Gianni Versace was heavily
03:05influenced by ancient Greek culture and chose Medusa to represent his brand-to-be.
03:10What in the world is a Medusa?
03:12A Medusa, dear heart, is a creature with snakes on her head.
03:18Medusa might be an odd choice for a fashion house to bank on, since she was a mythological
03:22villain who became so hideous that even a glance at her would turn a person to stone.
03:30But Versace went with the pre-cursed version of the character, who was quite gorgeous,
03:34and didn't yet have snakes for hair.
03:35Still, the implication is that both Medusa and Versace would be pretty great at stopping
03:39you in your tracks.
03:41Roxy
03:42Frequently worn by beach babes, surfer chicks, and 1990s Delia catalog models, Roxy was initially
03:48developed as a women's swimsuit line from the popular surf, skate, and snow brand Quicksilver
03:53in 1990.
03:54It wasn't until three years later, when Roxy started to get a cult following from trendy
03:58laid-back California girls, that their recognizable logo was born.
04:02If you look very closely, Roxy's heart-shaped crest is actually formed by two Quicksilver
04:07logos tilted.
04:08The Quicksilver logo represents the brand's surf and snow sports focus.
04:12Despite starting life as a swimsuit line, Roxy has been producing clothing and accessories
04:16for both the beach and the slopes for over 25 years, and their logo is tribute to the
04:20brand's big bro.
04:22Lacoste
04:23The brand Lacoste has been cemented as the shirt worn with the collar up by every jerky,
04:28preppy dude in an 80s movie.
04:29But before the infamous crocodile was a status symbol, it was simply a cute representation
04:34of a tennis player's nickname.
04:35In the 1920s, René Lacoste was a tennis superstar who ditched his bulky attire for a cotton,
04:40short-sleeved shirt primarily worn by British polo players.
04:43His nickname in America was the alligator.
04:45But because even back in the 1920s, nobody knew the differences between alligators and
04:50crocodiles, when he returned to his native France, they called him the Crocodile.
04:54Embracing his badass new nickname, he started to wear blazers, shirts, and sweaters with
04:58his own personal logo on and off the tennis court.
05:01When Lacoste retired in 1931, he began to mass market his shirts.
05:05But it wasn't until the 1950s, when the brand landed in the United States and developed
05:09a following with tennis players, golfers, and teenagers whose parents could probably
05:13buy their way out of a DUI, that it became such a style staple.