I had recently witnessed the Texas Longhorn football team dismantle the Texas Tech Red Raiders. I received a little plastic football (see picture 1) at the pre-game event. When I got home, I gave the gave the football to my daughter. She asked me why The Home Depot logo was on the football. After getting over my incredible sense of pride that my young daughter knew what a logo was, it dawned on me that she was able to recognize The Home Depot logo outside of its traditional context.
I asked her how she knew it was The Home Depot logo. She said, “I don’t know…it just is.” She is just learning to read, so she couldn’t read the words. I asked her what was different about this logo than the one she sees normally. She said, “This one is black and it should be orange, but it’s The Home Depot logo.” I was welling up with pride. My kindergartner understands corporate branding standards better than the person who approved the printing for this football.
Without a doubt, The Home Depot has a great brand. They invest heavily in promoting and policing their brand. However, this instance brings up some excellent questions. Can your logo pass a similar test? If you showed a five-year-old your logo in an advertisement and on a sign, could that same five-year-old recognize your logo a month later, out of context, poorly printed and surrounded by other logos? More importantly, could your primary target audience recognize your logo under similar circumstances? Do you have formalized corporate branding standards to protect your logo? Does your logo represent who you are and what you do? If not, you have a fundamental branding problem.
Your logo and corporate identity are possibly the most visible manifestations of your brand. Most great logos grow from a deep understating of company culture, philosophy, personality and position. The Home Depot logo, for instance, represents their brand position and brand personality quite well. Everything about their culture and philosophy revolves around promoting opportunities for their team members to interact with the do-it-yourselfer. For example, The Home Depot does not have isle numbers, encouraging their clerks to escort the customer to the proper aisle and allowing them the opportunity to discuss the project at hand. So what does this philosophy have to do with The Home Depot logo? Their logo is a simple square (building blocks), orange (safety first) with stencil shaped lettering (do-it-yourself). Their logo is the personification of their philosophy.
Your logo should represent your company culture and philosophy in a similar fashion. Most strong brands have powerful logos. Not because they were lucky or the VP of marketing had good taste, but because they took the time to deeply understand their corporate culture and philosophy. They developed this understanding into a formal brand plan and then created a logo that represents that understanding. Most start-up businesses are still developing their culture and philosophy. Therefore, they don’t have this deep understanding and will need to revisit their brand and corporate identity sometime in the future.
Most of Brandweek’s top 100 brands have gone through at least one logo refresh, if not several full branding adjustments. Prudential Insurance, for instance, has gone through 16 iterations of its logo before developing the current one (see picture 2). They understand how important it is to have their logo reflect their culture. If you’re considering a logo refresh or change, view it as a capital investment in your company. Take the time to ensure your logo is a professional representation of your company culture and philosophy. Your logo is the first impression most people have of your company. It should make a good and lasting impression.
For more information on building your brand and logo design, please call Cartis Group at 800-479-2616 or visit us at www.cartisgroup.com.
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