Re-branding the government: Obama, TMP, and logo-mania

I’ve gotten tons of e-mails over the last several days regarding the new Obama-fied logo for the Missile Defense Agency (it was unveiled last fall).

If you go to the DOD/MDA’s website here, you’ll see both the new logo at the top and the old logo at the bottom.

Free Republic first noticed the similarity to the Obama campaign logo. Weasel Zippers, Political Wrinkles, JWF, and other blogs have picked up on it.

It’s not worth blowing a gasket over, but the re-branding of the government is a rather aggravating and noteworthy fact of life in the Age of Obama. They do spend an awful lot of time packaging and repackaging bureaucracies and the business of governance — instead of actually, you know, governing.

The ad agency that re-designed the MDA logo is TMPGovernment. Here’s the company’s bulging portfolio.

Surprise, surprise (h/t Weasel Zippers): They also re-re-designed the Porkulus/Wreckovery.gov website.

One of TMPGovernment’s VP’s ruminates on branding Uncle Sam.

TMP’s VP of digital strategy is an unabashed cheerleader for the Obama campaign’s social marketing strategy.

Shiny, happy designers for a design-obsessed administration.

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A reader writes: “Pretty logo. Too bad we still do not have a real full protection missile defense.”

And great comments from thread below:

southsideironworks said: “It’s not how you govern, it’s how you look when pretending to do so.”

ThatSamIAm said: “Obama has more logos than legitimate politcal achievements.”

MarcoPolo said: “No doubt 180 jobs were saved with the redesign of that logo!”

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I see the Drudge Report has now picked up on this:

Another reader writes in: “I have spent a large portion of the last 11 years working missile defense while Clinton and Bush were in office. I also grew up in a rural area, and am familiar with what happens to cattle when they are ‘branded.’ I find it interesting that in Obama’s first year in office, he has pulled out of the European missile defense plans, cut the Kinetic Energy Interceptor program, cut the Multiple Kill Vehicle Program, drastically cut the Ground-based Midcourse Defense Program, and gutted the MDA in general. Based on this the new logo should have simply been the old logo with a giant NO symbol over the top of it. When you brand cattle, you tie the animals legs to keep it from doing anything. Then, in addition to the branding, if the animal is male, you also castrate it. I think this is highly applicable to Mr. Obama’s ‘re-branding’ of MDA….”

michellemalkin.com