I discovered something interesting about the logo of Chupa Chups in an article in Virgin Magazine yesterday so I decided to investigate further. Did you know…
The lollipop made its first appearance in 1958, when the company founder Enric Bernat hatched the idea of placing a bonbon on a stick. He called the product “GOL,” imagining the candy as a soccer ball and the open mouth a net. It didn’t go over well. So Bernat hired an ad agency that renamed his product “Chupa Chups” (from the Spanish chupar, meaning “to suck”). All that was left was the branding. In 1969 Bernat complained that he didn’t like the branding while having coffee with his artist friend-none other than Salvador Dalí.
Dalí’s started immediately doodling for an hour on newspapers that were laying around and created a logo version that masterfully integrated the word mark into the daisy design.
Acutely aware of presentation, Dalí insisted that his design be placed on top of the lolly, rather than the side, so that it could always be viewed intact. It has hardly changed since.
It is claimed that Chupa Chubs success was also due to the fact the Founder Bernat felt that at that time, sweets were not designed with the main consumers — children — in mind. So he instructed shopkeepers to place the lollipops near the cash register within reach of children’s eyes and hands, instead of the traditional placement behind the counter.
A good logo on a product in reach of its consumer– marketing genius!
Not too many international logos have such endurance – what about yours? Is it timeless? What about your business name – does it have meaning? Does it need to? Have you considered trademarking? Could the simple re-arrangement of your products result in more sales?