These logos are imprinted in our minds. Let’s look at where they came from and why they work.

Brand: Apple Inc.

Designer: Rob Janoff, Regis McKenna Inc.

Year: 1977

Jobs description: In 1977, Steve Jobs, along with Apple Computer Company (now Apple Inc.) co-founder Steve Wozniak, was getting ready to launch the Apple II. The Apple II was the company’s first computer that would be a consumer item that could be used right out of the box, unlike the Apple I, which was essentially a circuit board that required assembly to a keyboard and monitor. For advertisements for that product, the company sometimes didn’t even show its first logo, which wasn’t really a logo: It was an intricate drawing of Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree, an apple about to drop on his head and, as the probably apocryphal story goes, inspire his theory of gravity.

So it was time for a redesign, and the assignment went to Rob Janoff, an art director at Regis McKenna Inc., an advertising and PR agency.

Ink different: Janoff, who didn’t know much about computers in 1977, sketched mock-ups, among them a simple silhouette of an apple, with a leaf tilted to the right and hovering, stemless, above it.

One variation had a bite out of the apple’s right side. Some filled the logo with bars of color, which brings to mind an LGBTQ+ pride flag today, but the rainbow flag would not debut for another year, in 1978. The bars of color were meant to highlight that Apple II was the first PC with a monitor that could reproduce color images.

Apple chose the striped-colors version with the bite and used it for 21 years, until 1998, when Jobs, who’d returned to his CEO role after a 12-year hiatus in the fall of 1997, ordered the redesign in anticipation of the 1998 debut of the iMac. Since then, it has stuck with essentially the same silhouette with black, a solid color, or metallic versions.

Keep reading here.—AAN

Adrian McDermott has a 30,000-foot view of the retail world’s interactions with its consumers. As chief technical officer at Zendesk and one of the customer service software company’s early employees, he’s spent a lot of time talking to clients and considering strategy. And as brands begin to think about what shopping in the metaverse could look like, they’re also starting to think about how to approach customer service in a virtual world.

“From a Web3 point of view, there’s a general interest in applying the technology for a few reasons,” McDermott told Retail Brew, pointing to supply chain transparency, authentication, and building trust with consumers as potential uses for Web3 technology in the retail world.

McDermott, who, in addition to his executive role at Zendesk is an advisor to a crypto company called ChainLink, said the main mistake brands should avoid when creating their metaverse presence is attempting to copy and paste from their existing strategies. “The lesson for today is you can’t just re-create your brick-and-mortar or website experience.”

Social trends in the metaverse

McDermott said brands are experiencing a shift in consumer expectations and preferences, which could dictate their evolving customer service strategies as they expand to new corners of the internet.

Game plan: The retail industry doesn’t need to start from scratch with its metaverse customer service strategy, McDermott said. Instead, it should take its cue from the gaming world.

But McDermott acknowledged that, despite lessons from gaming, building out an effective retail CX strategy for the metaverse is likely to be a heavy lift for customer service departments.

“That’s a massive amount of transformation. We know how to run a session-based chat, we know how to answer the phone. But this is not that.”

Keep reading here.—MA

“Annual gift-giving guides aren’t just potentially useful for frantic shoppers—they can be big wins for the brands that land on them,” writes Marketing Brew’s Kelsey Sutton:

Making a great product doesn’t guarantee inclusion in a gift guide. That’s why many brands hire PR teams to send out pitches and product samples to editors and reporters in hopes of convincing them to recommend those products to readers. When it works, the results can be tremendous for sales and brand recognition. One food and beverage brand represented by the firm Dreamday PR is on track to earn $120,000 solely in affiliate revenue in November, due mainly to the brand’s inclusion on various gift guides.

Read the whole story here on Marketing Brew.

Today’s top retail reads.

Chop shop: How inflation is impacting the way New Yorkers grocery shop. (Grubstreet)

Fee-falling: In April, Etsy upped its transaction fees, angering sellers. Now, the sellers are saying higher fees and fulfillment costs, in combination with inflation, have hurt holiday sales. (Modern Retail)

True to your shelf: While many retailers scramble to offload surplus merchandise, some like Dick’s Sporting Goods and TJX are relishing the stocked shelves. (the Wall Street Journal)

Manifest your financial freedom: Money with Katie is obsessed with personal finance. Her weekly newsletter takes a spicy approach to budgeting, investing, taxes, and more. Get simple, practical ways to live the rich life you deserve delivered for free.

Three of the stories below are real...and one is most definitely not. Can you spot the fake?

1. Pepsi partnered with actress Lindsay Lohan to promote Pilk—a combo of the soft drink and milk.
2. Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp became the youngest entrepreneur on crowdfunding site Republic, raising $$ for his vegan Nutella brand.
3. Essie introduced a nail polish collection inspired by National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
4. Hot Pockets introduced cargo shorts made with literal hot pockets to keep its products warm.

Keep reading for the answer.

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• The road to redemption for Victoria’s Secret
• November’s most notable retail C-suite moves
• Coupon and cash-back services navigate tough economic times