Markenzeichen Unda
von Alessandro Battocchio
In this area of the website, dedicated to the Unda Radio logo, we will try to understand and interpret the birth and development of the logo, and the importance it had in the marketing strategy. What does a logo represent? In the publicity field, it is the characteristic and constant graphic shape which immediately identifies a name, a trade, a manufactured product. The importance achieved by the logo is essential for any business, because it allows the person to identify immediately the product he is about to purchase. Thus the logo becomes the symbol of the company, guaranteeing its quality, prestige and seriousness. Specifically, for Unda Radio, the logo was synonymous with high quality and precision.
As we have seen in the chapter dedicated to the history of the company, the logo was born in 1925 and was abandoned in 1962 with the dissolution of the business. During these years the company’s trade mark has undergone design changes and „re-stylings“, some hardly noticeable, some more drastic. It is our intent here to document these changes, through the material so far at hand and in chronological order.
Marco Zanelli who, at the time, was a draftsman at Unda Radio, writes the following: „The logo is inserted in a rhomboidal shape, where the letters forming the word Unda, are joined together by a wavy line, representing a gentle and sinuous electrical wave; the sharp angles of the rhombus and the harshness of the letters got lost over the years“.
Marco Manfredini did a thorough research at the State Archives, but only a few documents pertaining to the Unda Radio logo were found, such as the patent application of the logo, which was requested on March 1st, 1934 through the „Consiglio e Ufficio dell’Economia Corporativa“ of Bolzano. This possibly is the first time that the logo has been patented, since no previous registration application has been found.
This theory is reinforced by a second document which shows that the renewal of the patent bearing no. 49149 and dated 1934, was granted on September 22, 1943. Therefore, until 1934, the logo was not protected by a patent.
A third document, dated September 1958, attests to the transfer of the Unda logo to CGE of Milan, who made use of it until the beginning of 1962.