Originally, Skittles were produced by a company in England. Today, the product is manufactured and marketed by the Wrigley Company, which, in its turn, is a division of Mars, Inc.
Meaning and history
The earliest Skittles logo, which was introduced the same year the product was launched, was almost as eye-catching and colorful as the current one. However, it lacked the meaningfulness the logo has now.
The 1982 emblem
In 1982, the “taste the rainbow” slogan was developed for Skittles. A completely new logo was created, featuring a bold 3D typeface and a rainbow on the background.
The “rainbow” theme and most of its executions were created in the New York office of the advertising agency D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles. The slogan and logo were so successful that Skittles remained one of the agency’s clients for the following two decades.
However, when D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles was bought by Publicis and ceased to exist, Skittles had to look for another firm. About a year was spent with BBDO Worldwide in New York, part of the Omnicom Group. At last, Skittles commissioned TBWA/Chiat/Day in New York to create a completely new advertising campaign estimated at about $20 million.
The 2003 symbols
Actually, there are two logotypes. The first one makes the “Skittles” lettering even more dimensional and places it inside a red triangle with a white border. In the second version, the rainbow is placed upside down, while the dot above the “i” looks like a red Skittles sweet with the letter “S”.
Font
The typeface featured on the Skittles logo resembles the Helvetica Black font, yet it is definitely a heavily customized version.
Color
The rainbow theme has been present in all the variations of the logo launched since 1982, yet there are two colors that dominate the logotype: red and white.
