Amtrak’s new Northeast Regional Logo vs. Obama’s Logo
Ripoff? Homage? Unrelated? You make the call.
P.S. Amtrak used to call these trains conventional trains, as opposed to Metroliners, and then in the 90s dressed them up as NortheastDirect trains. From there they became Acela Regional trains, and then just Regional. It’s still Amfleet cars behind AEM-7 engines for the most part – so this exercise in marketing has not changed a whole lot.
Tags: Acela, Acela Regional, Amtrak, Conventional, design, logo, Northeast Direct, Northeast Regional, Obama
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2008.07.07 at 14:48
Maybe Amtrak should spend less time rebranding themselves and more time fixing up their trains and service. Not that they have particularly bad service or anything, but the whole damn system is abysmal when you compare it to any Asian or European rail system.
And I do see the similarities, but stripes and circles are pretty common.
2008.07.08 at 11:03
Historically, Amtrak has spent very little on promotion and advertising. It’s efforts in the nineties to adopt product lines with associated branding are one of the few times in the company’s history it’s made an effort like that.
As for comparisons to Europe and Asia, surely you understand the gulf in per capita funding between here and there, in addition to several generations of city planning and public policy that have worked against rail in this country, not to mention the differences in geography and scale between the US and the nations you mention, right?