I was on a cruise ship earlier this year, and of the many entertainment options was a daily quiz. Why am I telling you this, you may wonder? Well, on one of the days this fun little exercise was all about the identification of global logos. Specifically, I was handed a large sheet of paper with 50 logos emblazoned across it (any words omitted, merely the company logo shown), and had to identify each and every one of them to stand a chance of winning. Amid a crowd of many others, I sat there and sped through many of them, with others perplexing me.
This is an example of how powerful a logo is, how memorable it can be, and how instantly it can identify your brand, company, product, or even industry. In many ways, the more competitive the industry or sector, the more recognizable your brand logo should be. That may seem simple, but I think it holds water.
Whether it is fast food or technology, automobiles or airlines, in a sea of symbols, it is important to both stand out and be recognized. Imagine that you run a casino, for instance, and you want people to immediately know your brand. You’ve got to work seriously hard on that logo so that people instantly know it belongs to their favorite gambling spot – and feel that sense of familiarity and pleasure that we all connect with the images we like best. These should also be consistent across the brand – if you’re offering video poker on your website, you should still seek to have similar branding and aesthetics as you would use in other sections like slots or card games.
In the entertainment business, logo and brand recognition is particularly important, especially in the febrile world of online entertainment. It is all about not just the customer’s ability to identify your logo (the first and perhaps most important visual representation of your brand), but also about what that represents to people, and how instantly they connect it to the quality of your product or service. In many ways it is, or can be, the distilled and aesthetic essence of your corporate identity, and that is critical in any marketplace.
From Coffee to Casinos To Cars, Banking to Basketball, Logos and Branding are Big Business
When it comes to the world of global business, changing a logo is a more complicated and, hopefully, considered process than some would imagine. Logos are, after all, an identity, something that can define a business in a single aesthetic. Put in the simplest of terms, when a company decides to change its logo, it can be something of a gamble, or at least something that is not guaranteed to be received well by the general public. Within this discussion, which will happen at the highest level, with marketing consultants, brand managers, corporate leaders, and focus groups on the side, there is the granular debate of a complete overhaul, or merely a tweak, an update, a revamp.
As I said, changing a logo, altering the immediate visual representation of a brand can, in and of itself, be big business. Should it signify a modern progression or focus on the traditional brand image and corporate reputation that is inseparable from it? Take a look at any logo news articles or branding updates and you will soon understand that this is bigger news than some would consider it. Consumers are selective, fickle, and perhaps critical, and all that has to be taken into consideration when companies even start to think about logo changes or brand updates.
Think of some of the biggest global brands you can. Starbucks, Apple, Coca Cola, Ford, Nike, McDonalds, Google, Mercedes, Disney – the list could go on and on. What they share in common is the possession of globally recognized logos and branding. Also a commonality is the fact that these companies have remained consistent with their logos, with only tweaks occurring, never wholesale changes. That is, to my mind, one of the hallmarks of a globally valuable logo and branding: the fact that it never needs to be changed, so famous is it.
These days, the same can be said of social media companies such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, et.al., as they are now elevated to the status of logo-only entities in terms of people knowing immediately what the image represents (no text needed). As I mentioned in the lead-in for this section, for other companies, the logo change can be a tortured decision.
Historically, there have been successful changes and those that reverted back to the original, but overall, the logo is often sacrosanct, and few genuinely global company examples show the contrary. Think X – or is it still Twitter in your mind? Even with a global brand such as Coca Cola, change has been eschewed, and tradition, which often equates to consumer familiarity and recognition, has been favoured and privileged over any significant logo evolutions.
Global Branding Creating Online Marketing Magic
When it comes to company logos, then, many remain constant. That said, as the global markets become ever more accessible and potentially valuable in terms of revenue, some companies will modify their image based on the region in which they are operating. That may sound counterintuitive, but I do not mean that they create a whole new logo or brand, merely that they use their marketing acumen to appeal to the local consumer base. For any company, their logo is one thing, but their ability to tap into more localized ideas and appeals is quite another.
Among other things, this can be an incredibly astute marketing campaign policy, as we know that products, companies, and services often appeal to people as they relate to them and their cultural situation. If you ever take the time to look at some of the world’s most valuable brands, you will see that many of them operate in multiple markets, and many use their local knowledge to align their marketing with each location.
In the global entertainment world, as mentioned earlier, companies will, for example, tailor content to regional preferences, stream shows with cultural relevance, and show sports specific to a country or region. There are many more such examples in the entertainment and corporate worlds, but you get the idea, I suspect.
As I am sure you know, products and services need to be aligned with local cultures and values. Although logos may remain constant, as discussed earlier, branding can be subtly bespoke, creating marketing magic in a range of countries, regions, and continents that may love the product or service, but need different approaches when looking to gain their loyalty and custom.
