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| SMC CORPORATE PRINT AD launching the new logo, 1975 |
The giant multinational business conglomerate of the
Philippines—SAN MIGUEL CORPORATION—had its beginning in 1889, when prominent Manila
businessman, Enrique María Barretto, applied for a royal grant from Spain to
establish a brewery in the Philippines that would be known as La Fábrica de
Cerveza San Miguel.
In the next century, its San Miguel Beer would be its
most famous product, here and all over the world. Its product portfolio would
include food, beverage, packaging, real
estate, among others, but San Miguel Beer would always be top-of-mind among its
loyal consumers.
The early San Miguel Beer bottles were branded with the
letters S over M. The more well-known San Miguel escudo (seal), symbol of the
royal grant, was incorporated in the design of the product label, and became a
sort of a corporate logo for many years.
It was only in 1975 that SAN MIGUEL CORPORATION adopted a
new corporate identity logo, as it acknowledged that the “escudo” was strongly
associated with their beer product, which has since changed with their diversified
ventures.
For this diversity, SMC created a new
symbol, keeping the “escudo” for its brewery products. The new symbol
symbolized th primal element of Water, Life, Growth, Food, Abundance and Progress.
A TV commercial used animation to explain the basic
concept behind the new corporate logo. This logo was in use until 1999, when
SMC reverted back to the use of its “escudo” to stand for the company and its
products. In 2012, the “escudo” design was further streamlined, a version that
is still in current use.
SOURCES:
San Miguel Corporation, wikipedia
San Miguel Logo: logopedia.com
