Scary Moves
September 24th, 2006 by Chief Nut
Let’s say your company recently merged with another company. Clearly, a rebrand may be in order. BUT, what if you’re a generations old power brand like McDonald’s, or UPS and are not faced with this immediate need? Does a complete rebrand then make sense? Probably not. But, an overly cautious person may see any type of change in a successful brand as “fixin’ something that ain’t broke” and would stick with the same ol’. What to do?!
Visionaries aren’t paralyzed this way. They know that brands are living, breathing, evolving entities that need to be grown over time.
When UPS decided to update its logo for the fourth time in 97 years (March 2003), they thoughtfully implemented a redesign that most people didn’t even really notice. Why? … the essence of the logo was retained. It’s kind of like seeing a Hollywood starlet get plastic surgery. It’s obviously still her …€” she just looks younger, and most people don’t even notice.
Similarly, take a look at the new face of McDonalds. When seeing this change for the first time, Saturn’s new tagline comes to mind … it’s “Like Always, Like Never Before”. The architecture certainly qualifies as bold in the redesign of, arguably, one of the world’s strongest brands, but it doesn’t stretch to the point of losing brand equity. Bravo!!
