Does brand upgrading mean changing the logo?

Brand upgrading is not as simple as changing a logo. Simply changing a logo without upgrading products, services, or brand strategy is unacceptable to consumers. The author of this article analyzes in detail the issues that need to be paid attention to when a brand changes its logo. Let’s take a look.

If you search the keyword "brand upgrade" on the Internet, you can find news about many companies changing their logos.

For example, the recent Ant Group - Ant Group has changed its appearance and become more powerful.

Taking advantage of the listing and exploring new territories is a good opportunity for brand upgrading. Let’s not discuss whether the logo design is good or not. Anyway, everyone cannot do without Alipay and Huabei, so brand rejuvenation is not a problem for the Ant family.

But there are also many brands that want to reverse their decline and restart through brand upgrading, such as the fashion clothing brand GAP.

1. Simply changing the logo doesn’t work

After the financial crisis in 2008, GAP's sales performance continued to decline, while fast fashion brands such as ZARA and H&M continued to advance rapidly. By 2010, its stock price had fallen by almost 40%.

The board of directors was a little anxious at this time. After intense discussion, everyone came up with a good idea - to reshape the brand and create a more fashionable and younger brand image.

The direction was adjusted too quickly and the decision was made too hastily, leaving executives with no time to think carefully about the future business direction.

Should we get on the fast fashion train and build an ultra-fast supply chain? Or continue to explore overseas sinking markets? Or enter the high-end consumer market?

After discussing it for a while, they couldn't come to a conclusion, so they decided to change the logo first; it was rumored that it cost several million US dollars, which was not outrageous considering the annual turnover of more than 10 billion US dollars.

Although the money was enough, the designer was in trouble; the client only wanted to reflect youth, fashion and increase sales, so where did the inspiration come from? (Why are Party A’s the same all over the world?)

After many drafts, we finally chose the new logo on the right - a standard design that retains the blue box, and the bold font is popular among fashion brands, and it also has a sense of technology.

Let’s not talk about whether it looks good or not, but it is true that it is not recognizable; most people will curl their lips and say it is just so-so after seeing it.

The board of directors may not be satisfied, but the Christmas sales season was coming and they were in a hurry, so they updated the website first; they did not have time to notify consumers, nor did they make any changes to the display and layout of the retail stores. Even the labels on the clothes were still the old ones.

Fans and the design community were in an uproar, with all kinds of criticisms being rejected. The GAP brand department was a bit embarrassed, and then came up with a "bad idea" - turning the logo change into a marketing event, allowing netizens to publicly criticize it, but they did not expect it to cause a unanimous boycott from loyal fans.

In the end, the new logo was forced to be removed just one week after it was launched, and the original logo was replaced again, thus coming to an end in the hasty brand upgrade.

Some people say that this brand upgrade cost GAP 1 billion U.S. dollars (the wasted design fees plus the loss of business and the impact of customer loss), and shook the trust of fans for more than 20 years; fortunately, the response was fast enough and the negative impact on the brand was not that great. (From another perspective, it has earned a lot of traffic as a negative example over the years, but it is not fame.)

Today, GAP is still using its LOGO from many years ago (with only a slight adjustment to the color), but it is still conservative, and it is still difficult to figure out how it differs from other brands. It has gradually lost its vitality, and there have been reports of a large number of store closures in recent years.

It seems that without upgrading products, services, brand strategies and other business aspects, it is a gamble to rely solely on the inspiration of a creative company to change the brand image.

2. Successful brand upgrade is like this

Let’s talk about Apple’s brand upgrade journey.

Although it is a bit cliché, it is convincing; now the brand value of fruit is second only to Amazon in the world, with a stock market value of 2 trillion.

Apple fans probably all know the story behind each logo change. Let’s quickly review it:

Apple Computer was founded in 1976 and the product it released at that time was Apple I, the world's first personal computer. The contrast between the simplicity of "Apple" and the complexity of "computer" is very impressive.

The design of the first generation logo looks retro, and there is a short poem on the outer frame: "Newton, a soul that sails forever alone in the ocean of strange thoughts."

When Apple II was released in 1977, the logo returned to the original apple, but with a bite taken out of it, and the exaggerated rainbow colors represented the arrival of the color display era.

1998 was the second year after Steve Jobs returned to Apple Computer. The company made a major strategic adjustment, returning its focus to personal computers and launching the "Think different" brand promotion strategy. In addition to the black logo, there was also a transparent color logo to match the iMac.

In 2001, the "Digital Hub Strategy" was launched and iTunes was released, which can synchronize all devices and manage music, pictures, videos, and information. In the same year, the groundbreaking product iPod was also released, and the metallic color of the logo had a sci-fi feel.

In 2007, the iPhone was released and the company was officially renamed Apple, with its business focus shifting to consumer electronics.

After 2017, the Apple brand has been deeply rooted in people's hearts, and product strength has represented everything. The influence of the i family is getting stronger and stronger, so the logo has become simpler and more low-key.

Apple's brand upgrade is accompanied by major strategic adjustments and new product launches. The change in the logo is only an update and official announcement of the external image, but it also records and witnesses the development process from personal computers to a digital empire.

3. Brand Upgrading and Brand Image Upgrading

To the outside, GAP's image upgrade and Apple's strategic upgrade are just changes in the logo, but they are essentially very different. As for the effects, everyone has seen them.

The successful cases of brand upgrading that are talked about a lot in China include Li Ning, Bosideng, Pechoin, etc. - these companies have made adjustments in products, brand strategy, and market expansion strategy; people may not remember any changes in the LOGO, but the image of the "national tide" brand has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

A successful brand upgrade actually creates a new perception in the minds of target customers.

Let’s take a look at the differences between brand strategy upgrade and brand image upgrade.

If brand building is a long-term task, then rebranding cannot be accomplished overnight and produce immediate results.

Generally speaking, rebranding requires the participation of the company's CEO and all employees, and more importantly, requires strategy to take precedence. What is updated are - the brand's new positioning (such as younger, sinking markets, entering overseas markets, etc.), values, mission, the company's future vision, differentiation from competing brands, and new value brought to users.

This process is more of an upgrade of business strategy, which requires close cooperation with product development, sales, channels, human resources and other teams.

Brand Refreshing is led by the marketing department or the brand department, and the main person in charge is the brand director. There will be a lot of external communication with advertising companies and media companies (of course, it can also be completed by the company's own design and execution team). The main updates are: brand LOGO and extended design (including gifts, business cards, website design templates, etc.), new colors, fonts, new slogans (brand declaration), as well as packaging and promotional materials. It also requires a lot of investment in communication, press conferences, advertising, public relations interviews, and marketing activities.

Brand upgrading includes brand image updating, and the two are not contradictory.

Upgrading without considering the brand strategy is self-serving and requires a lot of money. It may also shake the brand assets (name recognition, cognition, reputation, loyalty, etc.) that have been painstakingly built over the years.

But this does not mean that brand image updating is not important. On the contrary, it is very important. A good creative team can express the company's strategic vision, development direction and product characteristics in a figurative way. Without expression, the brand cannot be recognized, acknowledged and identified by consumers.

It can be said that brand upgrading includes strategic upgrading and image upgrading. Strategic upgrading is rational thinking that tends to be left-brained, while image upgrading is creative thinking that tends to be left-brained. The combination of the two is the most ideal brand upgrading.

4. What kind of companies need brand upgrades?

Brand upgrading is not just about following the trend; it requires investment of money and time and is a risky investment. So what kind of companies need to upgrade their brands?

1) Startup brands are not suitable for brand upgrading. They should first build up their current brand to avoid confusing consumers. They should spend money wisely and should not mess around with investors’ money unless they plan to start over. (A small number of investors and company founders like to change the brand image according to their personal preferences. It is recommended to spend more time on the product.)

2) The brand has been silent in the market for a long time, and it is necessary to reawaken consumers/users' awareness; or the brand is in a recession cycle and needs to seek second-curve growth, so this is also a good time to upgrade the brand.

3) The company begins to expand in scale or develop rapidly. From expanding from a certain region or a single industry to the whole country or even overseas, and the industry expanding to new retail, e-commerce, etc., the brand positioning needs to be updated, and the brand image will be updated accordingly.

4) Product line expansion. For example, giants like Apple and Huawei have shifted from the traditional IT industry to personal consumer products, so the content of brand communication must have changed.

5) The target customers have changed. In the C-end consumer goods industries mentioned earlier, such as clothing and catering, more and more consumers are born in the 1990s and 2000s. The preferences and personality traits of consumers of this generation are different from those in the past, and they need to be more youthful in terms of products, services and brand image.

6) In markets with little product differentiation, differentiate yourself from competitors and highlight your advantages; in markets with fierce competition and where low prices are the key to success, appropriately redefining the brand and image can gain an advantage, enhance mindshare, and improve premium capabilities. (But there are risks, so be careful)

7) When the company merges with other enterprises or splits its brand, it will make an official announcement and make appropriate image adjustments.

8) The external environment is changing rapidly, and employee morale is low, so they need a shot in the arm; brand upgrades are very useful for internal employees to clarify their sense of mission and values.

9) The company encountered a public opinion crisis and needed to reshape its brand and start a new life with a new image.

However, brand upgrading is always a risky move. If it is not done well, it is likely to backfire, so you need to be extremely cautious.

5. How to upgrade the brand?

Since brand upgrading is an upgrade of corporate strategy, it must be led by the CEO personally. It is recommended to be carried out in five steps.

Step 1: The CEO leads the management team to conduct in-depth discussions on the industry and the overall environment, as well as target customers, competition analysis, and product development directions, and to clarify the development plan for the next 3-5 years.

Step 2: Translate the lofty strategic direction into the language for communicating with consumers/users - this process can organize workshops for employees, partners, and users to communicate from different perspectives. Of course, through the method of Design thinking, the problem can be continuously narrowed and redefined, and then through brainstorming, it can be gradually clarified how the strategy can be transformed into an implementation plan.

Step 3: With strategic planning, workshop outputs and implementation plans, organize the message house for brand communication - at this stage, you can take action first and carry out VI and appearance design simultaneously; in this process, employees and partners actively participate in co-construction, and continuously iterate testing and optimization.

Step 4: The formal VI is released intensively along with the brand values ​​and vision through public relations, advertising, social media, store image, new product appearance, etc., covering different communication touchpoints and fully displaying it.

Step 5: At the same time, carry out internal publicity to make employees more clear about the company's development direction, enhance brand pride, and reflect the new brand image in every aspect of contact with customers/users.

Brand upgrading is a systematic project. Brand upgrading that first formulates development strategies, product plans, and then builds them together with consumers, partners, and employees is more likely to succeed.

Brand upgrading cannot be achieved overnight. It requires long-term investment and adherence to commitments to consumers.

A hit video, a logo that everyone thinks is good-looking, and a catchy brand declaration do not represent the success of a brand upgrade. It takes time to build awareness and consensus and generate resonance.

Talking about upgrading without considering customers, markets, products, partners, etc. is missing the point and loses the meaning of the brand itself.

Author: Liu Yalan

Source: Deep Sound