Challenge: Re-Envision the Friendly’s* Brand

In partnership with:

Call to Action: Create sketch, rending, or image showing your idea for a re-imagined Friendly’s brand experience.

Click Here to Enter

Brands are a reflection of all an organization’s activities. We celebrate brands we love, but what causes beloved brands to fail? Massachusetts-based Friendly’s, the once popular restaurant and ice cream parlour, recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as part of a planned restructuring to revive the company. Friendly’s is beyond a business, in New England the brand, the ice cream, the experience: they’re part of our culture. We’re, frankly, sad to see it go.

In light of recent events: how would you re-envision the Friendly’s brand? A new logo? Friendly’s is more than a logo. Let’s think beyond the logo; how would you re-envision the restaurant itself, the dining experience, the menu, or any of the other activities that would help compose a new Friendly’s brand in our minds. This is your chance to re-envision a well-known local brand. Submit a sketch, rendering, or mock-up showing your ideas.

Note: your ideas remain your ideas (see challenge rules). This challenge is not affiliated with Friendly’s and should not be confused with “spec” work. Our hope is that designers will have fun re-thinking a beloved part our collective childhood and in the process, in partnership with boston.com and through our upcoming exhibition, we can collectively educate the public on the importance of authenticity in brand/experience design.

Requirements for submission:

• Open to anyone
• All design work formatted to images of max 2mb 800×600 pixels, 300dpi
• Short description of concept(s): 200 words max
• Images submitted by midnight EST on Dec. 01

Uses for entries:

• Winning entries will be published on Boston.com along with an interview with the designer(s).
• Winning entries will be posted on DesignMuseumBoston.org
• Winning entries will become part of Design Museum Boston’s upcoming exhibition: Beyond the Logo

Additional prizes:

• Winning entries will receive two tickets to the Beyond the Logo exhibit opening reception.
• Design Museum Boston prize-pack (t-shirt, water bottle, shopping bag, pins)

Jury:

• Kathy Kiely, Executive Director, AdClub
• Ellis Reavey, Consulting Director, AdClub
• Matthew Bacon, President, AIGA Boston
• Ed Shems, Co-Founder, Creative Relay
• Sarah Morris, Board of Directors, Design Museum Boston

Judging Criteria. Winners will be chosen based on the following:

• New, novel approaches to re-envisioning the Friendly’s brand
• Fresh ideas to re-invigorate a New England institution
• Appropriateness of technique, style, and Proficiency
• Quality of concept

Timeline:

• Duration: 4 weeks
• Challenge opens: Nov 01
• Challenge ends: Dec 01
• Notification of acceptance or rejection: Dec 6 via email

Challenge Rules:

1. Jurors for the competition are on this call for entry. No juror, employee, volunteer, or family member of Design Museum Boston is eligible to enter the competition.
2. All entries and rights to the design work remain the property of the designer, unless a separate written transfer and payment for the original has been negotiated.
3. Any finalists’ work that’s late or not in the form required will be disqualified. All rights to disqualified design work remain with the designer.
4. Design work will not be altered in any way without the express permission of the designer.

* “Friendly’s” and the Friendly’s logo are registered trademarks of the Friendly’s Ice Cream Corporation. Please review their legal statement on the restriction on use of materials from their website.

Questions? Contact us.

Enter here!