Helvetica - The Documentary

While sifting through documentaries to watch for class my roommate and I were immediately attracted to Helvetica since we're both Integrated Marketing Communications majors. First, I was blown away by how widely Helvetica is used. I guess I was more surprised by the fact that I never noticed. I’ve spent my fair share of time sifting through fonts but somehow I never seemed to notice the most popular one all around me. I guess that is the beauty of Helvetica. It is so unassuming and simple.

It is interesting the phases that design goes through. You can look at logos and ads and just know what decade they were made in. Helvetica is very clearly attached to the 60s and 70s. In the 80s/90s bold, blocky type was popular and now lowercase, softer designs are all the rage. The image to the left shows the change in two logos. UPS has kept the lowercase but changed to a little softer font. The image is shinier, with a more modern feel overall. At&t went with the lowercase trend and slightly changed their logo to a less “digital” looking ball, away from the IBM type of logo.

The Pepsi logo since the 60s has had the same general feel with red, white and blue circle, but small aspects of the logo have changed regularly to keep up with changing ideas of how logos should feel. They originally started with a script font. That was very common at the time. Coca cola used it and has stuck with it. The change to a simpler font for Pepsi is around the time that Helvetica became very popular. It’s no coincidence. Pepsi probably wanted a fresh feel that all other companies were moving towards.

Fandango Mobile App

Fandango understood the dot com boom and had an innovative idea that took the hassle out of going to the movies.  With Fandango there is no more standing in line or worrying about a show selling out.  From the comfort of your home you can buy and print tickets to a movie that night or later in the week.  Once you get to the theatre there’s no waiting you can just walk right in.

Fandango was a lifesaver when it came to HUGE box office hits like Harry Potter; where if you did not buy tickets the week or even day they went on sale you were not seeing this movie for another month after it came out.

Fandango is not the only company to offer this service.  Movietickets.com also offers the same service and actually has a name that makes more sense when a customer would be searching for this service. So how did Fandango become the go-to site for movie tickets?  When Fandango first launched they had great TV ads with paper bag puppets that got the fandango name associated with movie tickets online.

Fandango as a website has been very successful.  With the emergence of the mobile technology, Fandango understood the importance of having a presence in this market as well.  All the convenience of Fandango gets even more accessible when consumers can use Fandango on their phones.  Now you can be anywhere, and if you decide you want to see a movie it’s no problem to just check your phone and buy some tickets.  Maybe you’re on a date that’s going well want it to keep going.  Through the mobile app consumers can browse movies, find a theater, view trailers and purchase tickets.  The Fandango app also connects with Facebook so you can share with your friends what you saw, and what you thought about it.

Fandango as a site has a very broad target audience.  The range of movies offered attracts customers of all ages.  The mobile app will have a little more defined target audience mostly because the smart phone users are a smaller target audience.  Mobile apps in general are targeted to younger users about 18-35.  The Fandango mobile app will have a similar target audience of about 18-35, specially focusing on high school and college students because they have to disposable income and time to go see movies.

The Fandango mobile app makes a lot of sense and is very convenient for users, but execution is key.  The reviews for the Fandango app are pretty mixed.  Some users thought it was great and had no problems using it, but other reviews said that the app crashed whenever you tried to use it.  A glitch like this could turn loyal customers to use a competitor’s mobile app.

Movietickets.com also has a mobile app, but it is only available for the iphone and blackberry, where as Fandango’s app is available on all smart phones and the ipad.  The Movie tickets mobile app is not as well developed as Fandango’s.  The features offered by the Movie tickets mobile app is not as extensive as Fandango’s.