Time for a Corporate Logo Update?
By Many years ago, I attended a networking group for marketing where the topic of redesigning the corporate logo came up. This gathering of senior executives soon starting sharing their personal horror stories of the fall-out after a new CEO, CMO and/or Marketing Director would decide that the business logo was tired and that it needed a compete revision.
To Do or Not to Do—That is the Question
Redesigning a corporate logo is not a minor commitment. It can be extremely wasteful, since it also means replacing all your corporate collateral. From building and tradeshow signage, product packaging, sales brochures, as well as all the company stationary—business cards, letterhead, and envelopes—everything old has to be tossed out and then replaced to keep your branding consistent.
Know that a logo should not ‘evolve’ merely on whim or to satisfy someone’s ego. Sadly, the people at my networking group who had been involved in such an undertaking, reported that the new logo did not make a major difference in customer or client perception. No one saw a resulting spike in sales.
This infographic, titled ‘How Corporate Logos Evolve’ from The Logo Company, seemed to verify what I heard that day. Yes, all of these major brands in this infographic have changed their logos, repeatedly. Yet, if the end result had been satisfactory, why the next redesign? Only the first redesign in many of these series seemed to have some logical purpose behind it.
Why Redesign?
It could be that the original logos were poorly designed and difficult to read as in IBM’s early logos. Logos can also become outdated. The Shell and Xerox logos from the 1900s, for example, needed to be re-imagined in color in order to stand out in modern advertising. Still, many of the other redesigns appeared so relatively minor that I questioned why they were undertaken (as in the BMW logos which are virtually identical except for one discordant version that jumped off the screen in a tangent of swirling colors).
Take a look at a recent well-known logo’s redesign (not featured in this infographic), Louisville Slugger, the manufacturer of world famous baseball bats and other sports products. The reason for their logo change, according to their spokesperson, was to show that the brand utilizes modern technology. While that was the goal, given that the logo was only slightly tweaked, it appears the main result was attracting some media attention (so that public relations could be a valid objective).
If you’re a small to medium business owner considering a logo revamp, proceeding with caution would seem judicious, unless you have an unlimited budget. Don’t do something just because an industry leader has done it—a corporate logo redo should not be a ‘jump on the bandwagon’ exercise. Always be certain that your marketing efforts serve your business purpose, generating more leads and increasing sales, not merely to have a logo that someone deems ‘prettier.’
