Logos smiling at you: Wal-Mart, Kraft and more have new look
Being interested in branding and advertising as a natural part of my obsession with design, I’m always paying attention to visual changes especially when it comes to re-designs and re-branding of just about anything. Like tons of designers I’m the kind of guy who goes “Oh, IKEA has a summer sale, let’s see how they’ve updated their website. Oh, Starbucks added new menu items – let me take a brochure or look at My Starbucks Idea. Oh, the City of Toronto is re-branding their website, I’ll go to the meeting.” You could say it’s obsessive, but again I’m studying Graphic Design at OCAD!
This time, it’s more of an overall image update I’ve been looking at. And, there was an article recently in mainstream media, so here’s my update on Wal-Mart and Kraft, two examples of huge corporations refreshing their image. Below are the existing logos that you’ve definitely grown up seeing on a very regular basis.
Old Logos: Capital letters are generally used for shouting, which is not what shoppers want from mega corporations in today's economy!
New Logos: Now more "approachable", the new logos hint of sunshine, rainbows and smiles, which is refreshing for consumers and of course corporations.
So, you may notice that these are only two examples of the trend of corporate re-branding. Why is it a trend? Because, of course, these corporations want to you to appear friendly during the tough economic times. That’s right, they want ot be your friends (after you give them all your money)!
Apparently this is happening on a lot of levels. Douglas Bard, a manager at a firm called Logo Design Guru, explains:
“Some clients want to convey a more positive image because of the tone of politics in Washington. But more are looking to find a way to reach people as we ride out the bottom of this historic downturn. If you are a big-box retailer like Wal-Mart that’s been accused of driving out the smaller mom-and-pop stores in America, the need is even greater today – they want to convey, `Hey, we’re friend, not foe. We understand you are hurting. And we’ve got bargains for you.’”
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