Prof: Logo changes may not be helpful
When Marketing Professor Michael Walsh saw an article in the Oct. 3 issue of Newsweek magazine, he just shook his head.
Reporter Daniel Stone had explored the possibility of a logo update for the U.S. Postal Service as a way to bring the agency out of the red ink, and Dr. Walsh thought Stone may have been suggesting the worst possible idea for helping the agency avoid collapse.
“What he may not have reckoned on, and what companies as large as Tropicana earlier this year and Apple in 2003 failed to consider, was the loyal customer’s backlash against change, even in such things as logos and the fonts used in catalogues,” Walsh commented. “Tropicana had to back paddle on a $35 million image update last year, reverting to the straw-in-the-orange image, and Apple endured a customer thrashing for changing its logo.”
As recently as this summer Ikea, the Swedish furniture company, got an earful when the company decided to change its Futura catalogue font to Verdana.
Walsh’s research, “Do Logo Redesigns Help or Hurt Your Brand? The Role of Brand Commitment,” accepted for publication in The Journal of Product & Brand Management, has shown that the most loyal customers—the ones that buy and promote the product the most—don’t approve of such changes.
To test his idea, Walsh had a designer change the logos for two popular brands of athletic shoes. Then he had customers look at the new designs and give their opinions on a survey. He also questioned them on their level of commitment to the brands.
Customers who felt strongly about the brands – the ones most committed to buying and also promoting them – reacted most negatively to the changes, he discovered.
“What if they (companies such as Apple and Tropicana) had gone to the consumers beforehand and said, ‘we’re thinking of making a change, and here’s how we’re making the change, and here’s how it’s going to benefit you,’ would consumers still react the same way?” he asked.
When consumers are left out, they often react negatively, he said, especially in the age of the Internet. “Prior to the Internet, communications – brand or product communications – was one-way: from the company to the consumer. Nowadays, the consumer has a bully pulpit, too, and if the consumer doesn’t like something you’re doing, well they’re posting on message boards and YouTube….”
Today, companies must think of communications with consumers as a relationship, he said, with two-way communications. “The smarter companies have recognized that they have to look at their relationships with consumers as an on-going dialogue,” he said.
So, the Postal Service might be well served in changing its logo, but after consulting with customers – perhaps.
“No doubt the Postal Service has loyal customers, and besides, I doubt that a logo change would lessen the agency’s red ink anyway,” Walsh said.
Contact:
Michael Walsh
(304) 293-7960
michael.walsh @ mail.wvu.edu
