Category: Design, Marketing — Tags: branding, logos — dave @ 11:14 am
How can you tell if your logo is out of date? If you’re still reading, there’s a good chance it is.
Logos that are really old work because they’re so incredibly recognizable. They can evolve over time, sure, but some larger companies keep the originals because they are the brand.
But that’s likely not you.
Here are some telltale signs it’s time to change your logo or at least investigate punching it up:
- You haven’t thought about your logo since 1995
- You haven’t thought about your logo since 2000
- You made your logo in Microsoft Word (or better yet WordPerfect) or Paint
- You use clip art you found on your computer in 1998
- The colors of the logo have faded because you’ve copied it so many times
- Your logo colors vary depending on who’s using it
- You forget why you used a pine tree in the background
- Your logo varies between your business cards, letterhead and e-mails
- Your logo only reflects only one division of your company
- You forget what your logo looks like
- You don’t have a “logo” per say
If you said “yes” to any (or all) of the items above, don’t feel bad. It’s actually very common.
While you’ve been focusing on growing your business, the marketing world has grown, too. And designs and tastes, just like fashion, have dramatically changed. And just because you can design a logo in Paint, doesn’t mean you should.
Many times the politics of a company, even a smaller one, can affect its marketing plans. If the boss or board of an organization has some attachment to an old logo or marketing plan, it can be hard to change direction.
Do you think your logo needs some refreshing? Does your manager need some convincing? Let our logo experts here at imPress help!
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Category: Marketing — Tags: branding, Marketing, rebranding — dave @ 8:17 am
Rebranding is a word that scares a lot of business owners (and, we would imagine, cattle as well). As exciting as it can be to change your image, it is also a venture that can require a lot of energy and resources. And we know that some business owners get nervous when they hear about big companies that tried to rebrand and just ended up ticking off their customers.
Like Tropicana, for instance. You may remember a few years back when Tropicana opted to ditch their classic “straw in an orange” look in favor of a “nondescript glass of orange juice” look. Sales went down, people were outraged, and ultimately Tropicana reverted back to their old packaging. This article from Business Insider shows the old and new Tropicana packages and tells the stories of this and some other unfortunate rebranding attempts.
Even though it didn’t work out for Tropicana, rebranding does wonders for many companies. Here’s the thing – it really works best if there is a good reason to go ahead and do it. Let’s say you’re trying to reach a new market. Revamping your brand so it caters to that new market would make sense, right? Or let’s say your company’s mission and daily operations have drastically changed since you developed your original marketing materials. Shouldn’t your marketing match what’s really going on at your business? Rebranding should be much less about a new style and much more about an accurate feel or message.
Rebranding for a Reason
Take the recent rebranding that Keds has done. Most people thought of Keds as shoes that were meant to be sported by middle aged women, but the company wanted to introduce their brand to a younger generation. Their solution was the “How Do You Do?” campaign, which incorporates style, artist designs, a cross-country tour of college campuses, and the ability to create your own shoes. The Keds brand does seem more modern and fresh now, but these updates weren’t made just for the heck of it…they were made with a new market in mind.
Or look at Starbucks. Their recent changeover to a new logo might not have been popular with everybody at first, but it’s likely to be successful in the long run because the logic behind their decision to rebrand makes a lot of sense. The old logo, which incorporated the words “Starbucks Coffee,” did not accurately represent the company that Starbucks is becoming now that coffee is just one of many menu items. By making a subtle logo change, Starbucks is able to show that they’re more than just a place to grab a cup of coffee.
So rebranding is really nothing to be afraid of…if it’s for the right reasons. If the way your company runs is changing or if your targets are changing, then so should your brand. Have a chat with the crew at imPress Printing, and we’ll help you align your brand with your business.
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Category: Marketing — Tags: branding, celebrity, Marketing, marketing materials, matching, promotional products, stylist — Sarah @ 8:00 am
You know how celebrities hire people to help them establish their “look”?
Well, it’s not because these crazy kids are incapable of putting together an outfit. We’re pretty sure that when their stylists are out sick, celebs do manage to get dressed. The rich and famous hire wardrobe consultants because figuring out which shoes go with which pants isn’t a high priority for them. They’re too busy doing more important things like practicing whatever they’re famous for or buying mansions. They know that their image is important, but they recognize that somebody else might already have the expertise to make them look great and that relying on that knowledge can save them time and aggravation.
Give Your Business the Celebrity Treatment
If everyone in Hollywood deserves help in the image department, then so does your business. Stylists help celebrities put together a consistent, fashionable look, and imPress helps small businesses do the same thing. It’s just that instead of working with clothing and jewelry, we deck businesses out with marketing collateral and promotional products. And like a celebrity stylist, we have an eye for what’s in, what’s happening, and what’s going to make your business stand out.
While we tailor our recommendations to each unique business, one thing we always stress to our clients as we “dress” their businesses is the importance of consistency. You get one logo and one color scheme that is used throughout your marketing materials. Just like celebrity stylists are careful to choose wardrobe elements that work well together, we’re careful to make sure every piece of your marketing puzzle fits.
And what do you get when consistency is accessorized with our funky creativity? Small businesses that look fantastic.
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Category: Marketing — Tags: branding, Marketing — dave @ 10:00 am
If you were asked to sum up your company’s branding design in three words, what would you say? Well, you’d probably include a color, a symbol or other element that describes your logo, and the general mood of the design, right? These standards or “touchpoints” are the unifying factor in your branding design, and are crucial factors in maintaining brand consistency. But what other guidelines should you follow when examining your brand design?
Touchpoints are all the areas where your customer interacts with your brand. They also help you win over a new client, remind an old one of why they chose you in the first place, and communicate your message to the masses. Touchpoints are one of the few times you are able to control the image that your audience sees. Therefore, it’s incredibly important to keep touchpoints consistent in all of your branding efforts.
Start by thinking what message you want to communicate to the public. What colors and symbols help relay that message? You need to put your psychologist’s hat on here a bit – Blue promotes a feeling of security and trust (good for service-related businesses); green is a color associated wealth, money or freshness (helpful for finance or consumer ventures); orange is a cheerful color that evokes feelings of optimism and light-heartedness (think items geared towards children).
Next, find a symbol that shows what you’re all about, and design it in a style that reflects the attitude of your company (harder lines should be used for serious tones, while playful companies can use more animated versions).
Consider the phases of interaction you have with your audience. This will instruct the incorporation of your brand into your marketing products. These interactions generally fall into three categories: Pre-purchase, purchase and post-purchase. For example, direct mail fits into the pre-purchase category. Pre-purchase brand interactions need to be persuasive and influential. As the potential first introduction in your business, your mailer should then prominently feature your touchpoints to raise awareness of your company’s brand.
When creating your company’s brand, pay particular attention to your touchpoints and standards. Being mindful of the above tips early on will help you create a unified message in all your marketing endeavors.
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Category: Design, Marketing — Tags: branding, Gatorade, logo — Sarah @ 11:08 am
We know you had a pretty great time using your imagination as you read our post from a couple of weeks ago, so let’s take another break from reality and exercise that imagination again. Today we’ll pretend for a minute that you’re a pro basketball player. You’re running up and down the court and making ridiculous slam dunks as the crowd cheers and the sweat flows down your neck. The quarter ends and you have a minute to catch your breath and you’re soooooo thirsty so you grab a bottle of…what?
Were you picturing Gatorade? You were? Well done! We knew we liked you! (Even if you did get the idea from the title of the post.)
Drink Your Energy
Gatorade is the official sports drink of…well, a ton of professional sports. And we think its evolving package design is a great example of how your branding can send off the right message about your product.
We think Gatorade’s logo, the lightning bolt, was a fantastic choice for a sports product logo. Like the Nike swoosh, its shape implies speed and power. And we know lightning delivers a lot of energy – at least enough to generate 1.21 gigawatts of electricity, anyway. The logo isn’t overly complex or trying to do too much at once, and it is aesthetically appealing. In short, this logo’s got a lot going for it in one powerful flash.
Although the company has updated their packaging several times, they’ve kept that lightning bolt logo, which was a smart move. Consumers become attached to the logos of the products they use, and since the logo was neither seriously flawed nor dated looking, it was a good idea to hang onto that recognizable logo.
But Gatorade keeps making forward progress with the rest of their package design. They continue to update their look, making it more and more sleek and contemporary. They’ve lost the bulky “GATORADE” that was formerly written across their logo and have replaced it with a large “G.” The design of their latest line of products reminds us of what we imagined as kids when we thought about what people in 2011 would be drinking as they drove their flying cars around.
By combining a familiar logo with a sleek, futuristic feel, Gatorade’s packaging can appeal to loyal customers while keeping up with changing times. The result is a product design that’s full of energy for a product that is designed to give its users energy. Pretty awesome.
If your New Year’s resolution is to update your company’s look, keep Gatorade’s successful redesign techniques and first-rate logo in mind as you work to perfect your brand.
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