Nabisco is a brand name for bread cereals, cakes, and biscuits. The name is an acronym from the name of the National Biscuit Company, which was formed in the United States in 1898. The Nabisco trademark was registered in 1901, and the abbreviated name of the company has been officially used only since 1971.
In 1890, several large New York bakeries merged into one company, opening a bakery factory in Chelsea, and 8 years later several other manufacturers from Chicago joined in. Together, the bakers formed a corporation called the National Biscuit Company, or Nabisco for short. However, the shortened name started being used by the company only in the 1970s.
In 1902, Nabisco developed Barnum’s Animal cookies in the form of animal figures, which were sold in small cage-shaped boxes with a handle. But the most famous product of the brand saw the light ten years after.
In 1912, Nabisco created a brand new cookie – two chocolate cookies with an embossed wreath pattern and a filling between them. The cookies were named Oreo. The first Oreo cookies rolled off the production line of the Chelsea Market Bakery in Manhattan in 1912 and were sold in Hoboken, New Jersey. It was packaged in large tins and sold in grocery stores by weight for 30 cents a pound.
The modern Oreo cookie design was developed in 1952 by William A. Turnier, who incorporated the Nabisco logo into the design. Oreo has remained virtually unchanged for 50 years, but the brand’s product line has expanded beyond the cookie segment.
In 2000, Nabisco Holdings, a global leader in cookies, crackers, and snacks, became part of Kraft Foods. In 2012, the North American food business was separated. The new company Mondelēz International was created.
What is Nabisco?
Nabisco is the name of an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks. Among the company’s products, the most famous are Oreo cookies, as well as Belvita, Chips Ahoy!, Teddy Grahams, Ritz Crackers, Fig Newtons, and Wheat Thins. The company is currently absorbed by the large financial concern Kraft Foods and is part of its Mondelez division.
The unusual Nabisco logo can be seen printed on Oreo cookies, as well as on the packaging of other Nabisco products. Interestingly, the concept of the modern brand logo was laid down at the very beginning of the company’s history, back in the late 19th century.
Originally the company we know today as Nabisco was named National Biscuit Company, but the very first logo of the brand did not have any reference to it. It was the logo of the flagship product of the company, Uneeda Biscuit. The badge was executed in a burgundy and gold color palette, with the oval separated into three segments as decorated by a double cross on top.
The redesign of 1914 has simplified the logo of the National Biscuit Company, keeping the shape and contours of the original version. But this time the badge was set in red-and-white, with red as the main color, and the NBC monogram was inscribed into it. This ellipsoid will stay with the brand for decades. The company said it was one of the first European symbols of quality.
After the rename of the company into Nabisco, the logo was changed accordingly. The oval with antennas drawn in white against a scarlet-red background remained untouched, but the central part was changed: all the separation lines were removed and now there was just the uppercase narrowed lettering inside.
In 1958 the composition of the Nabisco logo was slightly changed. Now the ellipsoid with the cross was set diagonally inside a solid red triangle, opting up-left. There was also a secondary version of the badge, with the ellipsoid placed straight inside a triangle posting up.
The redesign of 1960 has cleaned up and strengthened the contours of the Nabisco logo, making the lines of the antenna straight, with no flared and sharpened ends as before. The lettering was also rewritten in a more modern and distinctive sans-serif typeface, with slightly extended uppercase characters. The logo stayed unchanged for thirty years.
In 1990 the Nabisco badge was refined again. The idea, composition, and color palette of the logo remained untouched, but some elements were reworked. The ends of the lines, which form the cross on top of the ellipsoid got rounded, creating a friendlier look of the whole badge. The lettering inside the medallion is also modified, with the characters getting narrower, their bars thinner, and the space in between them reduced.
The medium-weight uppercase lettering from the primary logo of the Nabisco brand is set in a modified Helvetica font with softened contours and ends of the bars. The font was created by Gerard Huerta, the designer responsible for the Nabisco logo update in 1990.
As for the color palette of Nabisco visual identity, it is based on a classy combination of red and white, which stands for confidence, passion, and professionalism, as well as for the reliability and quality of the brand’s products.