Many people don’t know this, but the ratings publication Consumer Reports is actually a non-profit organization that does tons of work to advocate on behalf of consumers with regard to the performance and safety of products and services. They even buy all the tested products themselves to remain completely impartial. So historically, any move to sell their ratings and recommendations to manufacturers for promotional purposes was forbidden. However, in a modern landscape of abundant ratings, CR’s popularity dwindled and B2B offerings became a controversial but necessary source of revenue.
In 2019, while at VSA Partners, I was tasked with helping them develop a “seal of approval” that could be sold to manufacturers after CR had done their impartial testing. After extensive iteration of the design and language of this badge, the result was a simple, but flexible mark that could work online and at points of sale, and it has since found its way into broadcast advertising.
Design team included Adam Lehman.
