Sonnet Media LLC

Category: Online Marketing

In the Land of the Free, Logos May be Worth Nothing

by Bud Parr on March 17, 2008

Please note that while I continue to work on some elements of the site, posting here will be light. Thanks

The Free I’m talking about is of course the new business environment driven primarily by Web-based companies. Company logos, once an important signal for consumers have less impact now that new business flood our semi-consciousness and trust, on the Web at least, is driven by other factors. Here are some points from a recent panel discussion on the matter from the Functioning Form blog:

“Web-based products have enormous flexibility and often grow/change as they mature. Take for example, the e-commerce site Zappos. They originally began by selling shoes online but have since begun to sell clothing and fragrances as well. When the CEO of Zappos talks about his company he is justifiably adamant that the Zappos brand represents “great customer service.” Yet, the Zappos logo prominently features a shoe. Sounds like it’s time for a new logo?”

The writer of this post also suggests that names have become more important than logos. Google is on the tip of my tongue, but their colorful logo, just type, doesn’t come to mind. This is probably good news, except for logo-designers, because as new businesses keep popping up it’s increasingly difficult to be original, and if original at all, it’s got to be increasingly difficult for a company to police a trademarked logo. If you’re a content provider, or rely on distributing information via email or RSS feeds for your marketing, logos have less value because they are diminished or get in the way.