Hasta La Ideas

In reading through the company’s long and storied history, Packard Bell is one of those businesses that has gone through so many owners and types of products that the only thing that one might be able to cling to with the brand is its brand (and mostly just the name). After the company was sold yet again last year to another computer manufacturer, Acer, it seemed as though it might be winding down to its final resting place. But no such luck for Packard Bell, which is unfortunate given that Acer has decided to relaunch the company with a complete re-branding effort, welcoming it into its new life with a very bad logo. It’s a three-quarter, 3D modeled view of “PB,” which is apparently the hip new way of saying “Packard Bell.” Frankly, it doesn’t make any sense to us in the slightest. What’s even stranger, the relaunched “PB” is rolling out a new laptop they hired the firm Pininfarina to design for them. How can you hire the same company who designs Ferraris while you’re also creating a logo that’s kind of painful to look at? Though to be fair, Pininfarina has designed some lousy looking stuff too, so maybe “PB” is being consistent. For more on the new branding effort, we recommend heading over to Brand New, to read Armin Vit‘s full report and a very funny dissection of a press release.