Back when I wrote about the U.S. Mint joining the electronic communities of Facebook and Twitter. I also noted that the U.S. Mint was showing off a new logo. Almost a week later, the branding consulting firm Siegel+Gale issued a press release announcing new branding for the U.S. Mint they are calling Connecting America Through Coins.
The logo features a golden colored flipping coin that will be used as part of product marketing throughout the U.S. Mint product line. As previously noted, the new logo appears on the U.S. Mint’s new Facebook and Twitter pages as well as the “microsite” for the America the Beautiful Quarters Program. No other U.S. Mint asset uses the new logo. Images of the new products in the U.S. Mint&rsuqo;s online catalog show either the use of the old logo or the official U.S. Mint seal.
According to Siegel+Gale, the U.S. Mint felt there was a “general lack of understanding of its breadth of additional offerings” and “aspired to increase sales of collectable coins, increase the uptake and use of dollar coins, and develop increased public awareness of the United States Mint as the only legal manufacturer of all American coins.”
If the U.S. Mint’s issues were about branding and understanding who they are, then this is a good move. But those of us who watch the U.S. Mint knows that their problems run deeper than their branding and logo. From lackluster designs, questionable customer service, to questionable management, U.S. Mint needs more than branding to help their image. Unfortunately, if we look at the how the U.S. Mint has performed, the axiom “a fish rots from the head&rdquo becomes very profound in describing the state of the U.S. Mint.
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