AdOnion

What is the most important thing about a company? To me I believe a company logo is the most important thing about a company. Why? It all starts with a logo, when you enter a store, hand someone your business card, when someone looks at your website etc. the first thing someone see is your logo. Therefore, the logo should be well thought about and presented in the right way to everyone that sees the logo and not only to a specific individual or group. A successful logo will provide consumers with association about your company whenever they see the logo. The logo should be associated with all company products and should not change.

Knowing the importance of a logo, I would like you to consider the recent discussion of Wal-Mart’s logo makeover. A logo provides an association and an identity to a company. If the logo changes during the life of the business it is a big and dangerous movement for the company, especially to Wal-Mart who has well established their name. Changing a logo also brings a new corporate identity to the company, which is also a big challenge to the company as we’re all resistance to change. First the people, environment, corporate culture, etc. need to change, when these changes it will transfer the new identity to the consumers. This part of the transformation is the most important in building on to the new identity, if consumers don’t agree with the transformation the company may be at risk but if done right it can be very powerful.

Now let’s take a look at Wal-Mart’s old logo and compare it to the proposed makeover.

The old logo is in bold and all-caps which signals a big personality. On the other hand the new logo is lighter, friendlier, upper and lower case which makes the logo much more approachable. The old logo used deep monopolistic blue which has been replaced with brighter, less ominous cyan which creates a freshness and energy to the identity. In addition the military-style star has been replaced by a bright yellow spark which gives a feeling of contemporary, optimistic and lively. Finally the hyphenated Wal-Mart has changed to one work Walmart which make it feels like a proper name.

It will be interesting to pay attention to Walmart’s makeover and see how everything unfolds especially in this economic time.