Branding and Re-Branding company Logos
Have you ever played a game of “Guess the logo” while going on a long drive? Maybe you haven’t heard about it!
So, imagine a highway with cars revving up 80 kmph, and every time a car overtakes you, you have to guess the name of the car brand. The one who guesses first and correctly, wins the game! I used to play the game as a form of mental exercise and my love for branding until I started recounting all car brand logos in a flash. I got saturated and stopped.
However, there are a few pertinent points to note here:
- Car brand logos are limited in number so you can guess them easily once you are aware and alert
- Car brand logos are unique in every sense of the word. Company’s core values and brand journey determine the company logo!
Earlier I would confuse between the brand logo of Hyundai and Honda as both of them have the Letter H spelt out differently. However, once i read the story behind each logo, I became aware and was able to recall better. The letter H in Hyundai logo depicts the first letter of the company and a silhouette of two individuals shaking hands. One individual is a company representative and the other is a satisfied customer.
However, in case of Honda, the letter H in the logo has multiple meanings. Honda was founded in 1946 by Soichiro Honda. Honda had started off for building engines for motorized bicycles, as well as complete motorcycles. The brand stood for providing coziness and comfort to the driver and passenger. When we analyse the logo and pay attention to the letter H, it is observed that apart from the reference to the first letter of the founder’s surname, the logo signifies cosiness and safety due to its shape of a classical armchair.
After gaining the above knowledge, I know better why a logo represents the particular brand.
Now, imagine after getting to recognize the brand logos, the brand changes its logo! How would it affect you?
It will certainly be a different experience to interact with the brand and for a while, everything will seem different. After all, we love the status quo and avoid changes as much as we can!
Here is a blog series earlier written on Iconic Mascots of Indian brands
This brings us to the next question: Why do brands rebrand themselves? After all, it is a costly exercise! Does Rebranding via logo change, put you off and result in a change of interactions or does it make you feel closer to the brand?
A few weeks ago, LEAD, an eminent Education-Technology or Ed-Tech platform, rebranded itself completely. The re-branding activity involved changing it’s brand name (formerly, LEAD School) to LEAD. It changed the logo also in order to signify the change. As Ritu Jhajharia, Content Head, LEAD puts it, “Formerly, LEAD School, by it’s name, was being perceived as a separate school instead of being an Ed-Tech firm engaged in empowering school owners with modern learning tools. So, we had to undertake the rebranding exercise for a very solid reason.”
Does re-branding have a positive/negative effect on the audience?
As Ritu Jhajharia, Content Head at LEAD puts it “A few years back, Indian Essar Oil Limited had earned a not so good reputation due to investor issues prevalent at that so ROSNEFT decided to rebrand the company to alleviate the negative association. They renamed the brand to NAYRA Energy- The term Nayara is coined from Hindi “Naya” (new) and “Era” and strongly signifies the shareholders’ vision of bringing the asset to a new era of development. This new name got stuck in my mind as the rebranding exercise was focussed on the current issue and the activity was executed very well. Thus, this rebranding exercise had a positive effect on me”.
However, there are times when re-branding may not come out positive for everyone. Like, Harshit, a branding aspirant, opines “Cadbury Dairy Milk changed its logo from an earlier one in which Dairy Milk was written in a wave form to the newest logo wherein Dairy Milk is written in a straight line. I cant’ connect enough with the brand.”
Contrary to the above conversation, re-branding exercise takes time to settle in the consumer’s psychology.
According to Nidhi Rani, Social Media Coordinator, Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation- “I think we cannot simplify rebranding of a logo into negative or positive effect. It might not evoke any effect at all. Let’s suppose if Burger King changed it’s logo, I might find the new logo difficult to recognize for a few days and then finally my eyes would adjust to it. My psyche of consuming a burger from that outlet would remain unchanged because the menu remains the same even after the logo change. Brands as a practice include colours in their logo that helps them rope in more of their TG. If done right, It definitely does affect us at a subconscious level.”
To conclude, we can understand that a re-branding exercise leads to a change in the consumer’s engagement. Consumer’s engagement with the brand gets adversely affected unless the re-branding exercise is done for a specific objective and executed in the right manner!
Read about the Shera: The iconic Mascot of CWG
What is Social Buzz upto?
We, at Social Buzz, are up for a challenge. The challenge is to redraw the journeys of brands who have rebranded themselves in the recent past. Thereby, find out what made the company change the logo and what effect did it have on the end user. As you may think that it is a very simple exercise of chronicling logo journey, in effect, it is not. As we all are bound by our mindsets, our background, our upbringing and our values. So, there can be a no one-size-fits-all solution for all of us.
So, follow the next few blog posts by Social Buzz as we take you on a journey to explore the Rebranding exercises executed by iconic brands over a period of 100 years!
Click here to read about the Evolution of Starbucks logo
Click here to unwind the story behind the Burger King logo
Click here to read the story of building the logo for LEGO Toys brand
Click here to read the journey of three-pointed Mercedes Logo
Click here to read the journey of Pepsi logo
Stay tuned!
Hahah, I play that game all the time with my sons. My sons will look at the car’s brand and tell me what it is.
I’m glad you play that game too! Some things are truly universal in nature!
We would play a different game that you probably also know – I spy with my eye something….
Hi Ambuj
Great post! I think rebranding has the power to provide a lift for customers if done correctly. We recently rebranded at Astute Copy Blogging making our logo sharper and more recognisable. And looking back it was the right thing to do because it’s had a massive impact on our growth.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Logos are so popular since it’s how we identify everything nowadays. Some companies do a great job while others don’t!
Logos are a direct derivation of the brand identity and in turn the higher management’s vision for the company. These are sometimes not sorted enough and thus, tinkering down to the logo, some companies’ branding with logos are a few yards away from perfection.
You’ve got a really popular highly used blog name! How do you differentiate from the other ‘Social Buzz’es out there? Great tips!
Hey
I realised a little late that the name is quite common but in this world there are many things that look and sound alike but each one is different. In our case, we try to keep our content engaging and unique and have people like you appreciate us for the same!
Brand recognition is very important and a good way to have clients recognize your products and maybe be more inclined to purchasing them. This is a very interesting topic and I like your take on the logos. Thank you for the fun reminder about the logo game.
I am glad that you appreciate brands and logos and how logos affect a brand’s recall value!
I find myself checking out logos on cars while driving to see if I can figure out the brand. Branding is such an important portion of business.
Branding is a quint essential part of the business. I would like to term it as an extension of the business that has a long term value for brands however only a few companies are able to build a brand for themselves!
Branding is so important and its cool to see how rebranding might actually help a brand. Sometimes it takes me a while to even notice the rebrand! Thanks for sharing!
Very well said! Branding and Rebranding are essential parts of a brand’s identity journey. Additionally, rebranding of an existing brand is done to fit the brand in the prevailing times by factoring in context and keeping it updated with the times.
this is a very good blog.
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