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Monkey D. Luffy may rival Mickey Mouse as one of the world’s most recognizable cartoon characters, but the treasure hunter is just One Piece of the Crunchyroll success story. The anime-dedicated streaming service boasts over 14 million subscribers around the globe and is a must-have streamer among the young—and young at heart—audiences that congregate at brand-friendly fan events like San Diego Comic-Con.
Crunchyroll always comes to SDCC bearing special somethings for fans, and that’s no different for the 2024 edition, which runs from July 25 through 28. This year, the Sony-owned service is gifting its audience with a whole new look—a look that ADWEEK is exclusively unveiling.
Overseen by senior vice president of marketing Markus Gerdemann and vp of creative services Norman Rabinovich, Crunchyroll’s brand refresh encompasses a new logo, glyph system, patterns, textures, mnemonic sounds and, for all those typeface nerds out there (looking at you, Ryan Gosling), a whole new font.
“We want to be everything for someone and make sure we capture that in our brand essence,” Gerdermann told ADWEEK about the motivation behind evolving Crunchyroll’s look and feel. “And with the evolution of anime’s global audience, our company also has to become more global.”
Rhymes with orange
One thing that’s not evolving, though, is the signature orange hew of the Crunchyroll logo. Rabinovich confirmed that any talk of changing that color was immediately off the creative table. “The reality is that there’s such an affinity for it,” he admitted, adding that the eye symbol accompanying the name was another essential element that had to remain in place.
But even with those required ingredients, there was plenty of room for add-ons and refinements to the original Crunchyroll brand recipe. For example, Rabinovich said the new version of the eye will have a lot more personality. “There’s going to be a lot more motion to it, and it’s going to be popping up in different contexts,” he noted.
