To change or not to change

Change is good. It symbolises evolution. Yet a lot of corporations are faced with a dilemma of whether they should change or not. When Asian Paints wanted to get a corporate makeover, they decided it was time to bid goodbye to their mascot of many years-Gattu-the cute little mischievous boy. Little did the company realise that his absence would be surely felt.

HMV instantly brings to mind the image of a dog listening faithfully to his master’s voice coming out from the gramophone. After the company saw its profit dip by 20%, it felt the time had come for a change. So it’s replaced the old dog Nipper with a new one (from the Wallace & Gromit Series) called Gromit. People love the old logo and the company is not taking chances. It says the new logo is only for a few months–its focus being on selling children’s DVDs.

NBC after all burnt its fingers when it changed its logo to a capital ‘N’, way back in the mid 70’s. ‘N’ lacked the charm of the peacock and did not go down well with the public. It was changed back to the peacock, a few years later.

Just changing is not the solution. You need to do so with caution as sometimes sudden changes upset people. Quaker Oats modified the Quaker Man on its package over a 10 year period to avoid undermining customer confidence.

Long lasting logos

You need to design your logo with caution. A good logo is one which won’t lose its charm too quickly. After all logos need to be cared for and nurtured and it takes millions of bucks to make them popular. A logo, it’s said, works on the heart of the consumer. Think Nike... its logo symbolised a whole generation. Carolyn Davidson created it in 1971 for only $35. Today’s youth swears by Google... a logo which actually was the misspelling of the word “googol”. More people in America recognised the AT&T logo (93%) than the name of their President. Come to think of it, AT&T changed its logo design almost 70 times till it finalised on the current one!

Logos are small, but they depict large images and create long lasting impressions. Think of Superman & his logo – the large ‘S’ – is probably the most lovable and most recognised logo ever created. Some logos are just everlasting, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, BMW... you never tire of seeing them and you always like them.

Logos are strong symbols that have the power to unite, not just organisations, but people too. If Wipro’s rainbow flower helps unite its diverse business, then “Om” unites all Hindus & the “Cross” unites all Christians. Logos are more than just graphic designs. They are, in fact, pint size power houses! And by now, I’m sure you agree...

Copyright © :-Rajita chaudhuri and Planman Media

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist)