HMV, the much maligned, bankrupt and rescued UK music stores are having another crack at the whip, putting out some digital services for iOS and Android a digital music store with Shazam esq. song finder plus a “take a photo of an album” utility. There’s a DRM free incentive, but costs are on par with the others.

They also still own 13o odd stores, which surprised me.

They’ve worked with The Council to reposition the brand as “The home of entertainment since 1921”. Which as far as I can tell means fattening up a lowercase hmv logo they’ve been using for some time, and making it glow. They’re calling this hmv neon, with some excuse of the original HMV store having a neon sign. However rather than neon, it just kind of looks glowing in the rendering and animation (yes, neon glows, but it has a certain glow that this does not).

The strap line seems sensible, we’re all loving a bit of nostalgia here in the UK but I can;t seem  to join the dots of the HMV brand, pink lowercase letters, nipper the dog and his gramophone, digital services, 1921 nostalgia and then in the video, ’80’s music.

For me Nipper the dog holds loads of value, but for some time the HMV lettering and renderings of nipper have been used separately, it seems someone in the brand agencies or business itself are keeping the little dog as a secondary element.

I hope there is more to come that ties all this in.

The Council has developed a 3D neon pink identity as the retailer looks to ‘reignite and reconnect’ with on-line and offline push.

Spotted on Design Week – Branding »