Branding the Stones

Where did the Rolling Stones "lip's" logo come from?It all started at a party in New York in 1969 when Andy Warhol casually mentioned to Mick Jagger that it would be amusing to have a real zipper on an album cover. A year later, Jagger proposed the idea for Sticky Fingers, the first release which debuted the famous Stones logo: a caricature of Jagger's lips and tongue. The heavily merchandised image was soon incorporated into pendants, key chains, belt buckles and even tattoos. Warhol took the cover shot; though many assumed the model was Jagger, it has often been rumored to be a hanger-on at the Factory, Warhol's studio, named Joe Dallesandro.

You can brand anything!While this story may be interesting, it proves that you can brand pretty much anything. I can think of no more than 4 or 5 rock and roll groups that actually have logos even today, not to mention memorable, influential ones. But this is true for most products and services. Few are meaningful let alone memorable. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist or marketing guru to create a brand. All you need is honesty, creativity and a viable, interesting product. A good brand creates attraction and tells a story that’s worth telling. A good brand “takes a risk” in the story it tells.

Thanks goes to the web site: http://www.superseventies.com/ for providing their fabulous historical input and to our subscriber Tim for his idea for a retrospect on the Stones logo.