Logo similarities: Cell C vs Athletics SA

Drew parallels

In Bryant's article, among other things, he drew parallels between Cell C's new branding and Vodafone, particularly the similarity between Cell C's payoff line and the one launched by Vodafone a year ago.

But I'm surprised no one in the marketing/media industry has commented or written about the similarities between the Cell C and Athletics SA logos (either that or I am looking in all the wrong places for such).

Spot the difference, especially when the Cell C...

Granted, these organisations may never actually be in direct competition with each other, but what was interesting about how my sister noticed the striking similarity was that she was watching a news story about Caster Semenya, and the Athletics SA branding was displayed in the background.

First assumption

Her first assumption on seeing the Athletics SA logo was that Cell C was involved with or sponsoring either athletics or the athlete herself.

Now, given how much media space is afforded to cellphone network brands through sport, and how much Cell C's competitors have invested for the privilege of being associated with certain sporting codes, isn't it grounds for concern for Athletics SA that Cell C may actually get some free mileage from the similarities with its brand?

Even before we discuss the merits of that argument, at the very basic level I believe it is unacceptable that a company would do a total brand overhaul by either deliberately "borrowing" ideas or that, despite the importance of this revamp, they still neglected to do proper research, resulting in this extraordinary coincidence.

Another potential legal battle

In his article, Bryant suggested that we may see a legal battle over the payoff line - I believe that Cell C may be looking at another potential legal battle over its new look.