See 3 of the World's Oldest Corporate Logos Still in Use Today

by #LizPublika

Stella Artois

Logo First Used: 1366 Company Founded In:1366

The origin story of Stella Artois begins in1366, when the Den Hoorn brewery was established in Leuven, Belgium. The brewery was purchased by local brewer Sebastian Artois several hundred years later, in 1708, and renamed shortly thereafter. The word stella, which is Latin for star, was added to the company name only after the release of its first seasonal beer, the Christmas Star, in 1926.

Although the company underwent numerous shifts in management over the centuries, the original horn logo has not changed. The same horn that once beckoned travelers in Belgium is still prominently featured in the Stella Artois brand. Today, Anheuser-Busch-Inbev distributes Stella Artois in more than 80 countries, which is widely considered to be the best-selling Belgian beer in the world.

Twinings Tea

Logo First Used: 1887

Company Founded In: 1706

Impressively, not only has the company occupied the same location on London’s Strand since its founding by Thomas Twining in 1706, the Twinings Tea logo — featuring capitalized font beneath a lion crest — is the world's oldest unaltered logo and has been used continuously for the last 227 years.

Tea consumption was not always essential to everyday British life. Coffee and alcoholic beverages, like gin and beer, dominated English breakfast choices in the early 1700s. But times were changing and tea emerged as the most popular option by the turn of the century. Today, after 10 generations, family-owned Twinings is a globally recognized company, distributing its tea to more than 100 countries worldwide.

Bass Ale

Logo First Used: 1876

Company Founded In: 1777

Bass Ale has used the red triangle logo since 1876, when the logo became the first registered trademark ever issued by the British government. Its simple design may have helped Bass become one of England’s leading beer producers by 1890.

The logo became so insanely popular that Edouard Manet featured it in his A Bar at the Folies Bergere (1882, shown above) and James Joyce mentioned it in his seminal novel Ulysses (1920). The company is even mentioned in connection with the sinking of the Titanic, as it was carrying 12,000 bottles of Bass in its hold at the time of its sinking.