I came across an article on Twitter today that sparked off an interesting conversation about brand recognition.
Starbuck’s have decided to do a rebrand whereby they have removed the wording from their brand in order to focus on areas beyond coffee:
Personally, I had not even noticed what the image was within the circle before – admittedly I don’t do Starbucks but I do walk past several every day on my way to work – turns out it’s a siren (though having now studied it I’d have said mermaid).
This led to an interesting conversation about brand recognition which saw a few of my Twitter buddies, @sophiebradshaw and @thesophiew, have differing perceptions of branding in terms of words V pictures. I initially took some brands and removed the words and asked them to identify them, the results were mixed.
Following on from GAP’s failed attempts to reinvent it’s logo, it would seem some brands may want to reconsider how they go about reinventing themselves, already there have been loyal Starbuck’s customers voicing their dismay on the their official website!
So, just for fun, I’ve put together the following 10 logos and removed the wording – have a go and post a comment on who you think they are. No prizes for this, but the high scores will get kudos.
Habitat, Tesco, McVities, Hovis, Pizza Express, BBC, BP, The Body Shop, HMV, Interflora
How’d I do?
* 9/10 – Pizza Express was incorrect *
No Idea first one, tesco, mcvities, Hovis, No Idea, BBC, BP, Body Shop, HMV, & Interflora
As for the above rebrand I think its a step backwards, most people in our office didn’t recognise the logo when shown. If the logo was rolled out across all uses immediately it may be okay but with Starbucks having franchises all over the world, the staggering of the change of ID may cause some brand confusion, “is it a new company or is it starbucks” especially if other local shops have the old design.
Also for more fun have you checked out Unevolved Brands: http://unevolvedbrands.com/
See how many you recognise, will kill a few hours this afternoon,.
* 8/10 *