One of the most important assets that a brand has is their logo. A brand style guide will always contain various elements including colors, fonts, patterns and borders but the logo is the one element that should truly reflect the essence of the brand.
Last week, at the North American Auto Show, Cadillac unveiled a “sleeker and more streamlined” logo.
When asked about it, they responded that they wanted the logo to reflect the evolution their cars had made to being “longer, lower and leaner” as they work to appeal to a younger audience.
This got me to thinking…
How do you come up with a great logo and what do you do if your logo is a bomb?
One great example of a logo disaster is JCPenney.
Our old friend from the Martha Stewart legal debacle, JCPenney changed their logo in 2013 to reflect their new “Fair and Square Pricing” strategy, as well as to evoke feelings of Americana.
Unfortunately, it pretty much jettisoned everything else that consumers recognized about the brand.
And once it was abandoned, wreaked havoc with the retailer’s advertising and in-store marketing programs.
Another good example of a dubious logo redesign is Yahoo! as can be seen in this article which clearly explains the problems with the new logo.
Not the least of which is the fact that it looks dated – unfortunate for a cutting-edge technology company…
In developing a great logo, it is critical to keep in mind the purpose of the logo.
A good logo visually communicates what the brand stands for and is simple, reproducible and translatable.
And let’s not forget attractive.
When we were working with our designer on the Jenerosity Marketing logo, we wanted to communicate strength, growth and innovation while still appearing feminine.
We felt that the color, font and design element (which many observers have correctly identified as a butterfly) achieved all of this.
But were we to conduct a rebranding exercise, we would need to make sure to retain these same traits.
One of the biggest mistakes in redesign, as seen in some of the examples above, is straying too far from your original design so that the logo is no longer recognizable.
And this is when disaster strikes.
So, what do you do when your logo is a flop?
I believe that, while costly, time consuming and likely somewhat confusing, your best bet is to revert back to what the consumer already knows and trusts.
From there, if you want to rebrand again in the future, you need to consider all of the above points when doing so.
The key to success is getting it right the first time!
Tell us your thoughts in the Comments below…
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