Manitou: 11.Changed Logo

Hi, this week I would like to talk about the brands. Nowadays, the brands represent the corporations. Furthermore, brand has power to sell their product, so all companies try to get brand power, and then after getting the brand power they try to keep the power. Logo is the most effective way to appeal the brand, and the logo has some power itself. So it seems to be risky to change the logo.

Xerox, which is famous for copy machine, thought that their brand logo is too old. They decide to change the logo. It was block-capital-letter XEROX wordmark, most often seen around the world in red. However, they thought that it did not lend itself to the three-dimensional world of internet and mobile-phone marketing canvases. The new logo, created in FS Albert font, is accompanied by a symbol-a red sphere that is trying to convey a sense of the globe. The new wordmark, with softened and rounded lower-case letters, is a far cry from the former imposing logo hatched in an era when U.S Steel and IBM were kings of the corporate mountain.

However, it is ambiguous to figure out how the new logo works. Does it make difference? Dennis Keene, an independent marketing consultant, says done properly, a new brand architecture can be a great start to galvanizing employees around a new brand idea, and from here there it travels to customers. The company have to do all the other things right too, but a brand’s graphics are the connective matter of a brand strategy and reached consumer brains in ways they are not even aware of. It is difference between getting the wiring of the brand right or wrong.

The company had made changes in subsequent versions but did little to deal with products already in the market. But in the past five years, under the leadership of CEO Anne Mulcahy, who took over in 2001, Xerox has been refocusing on customers, creating business solutions rather than just reproduction and digital imaging services and products. And it's been working harder to serve a customer base no longer captive and that can just as easily buy or lease Canons, IBMs, HPs, or Kodaks to meet their needs.

Also, Xerox has long been strong research and development, investing 5-6% of revenue in R&D annually. The company is still has high technology in the area, and the effort returned 558 U.S patents and refreshing 95% of their products. It makes the company still has big market share of their main area, copy machine.

The new logo bring new mean to customers. It is not just refreshment. Xerox has some brand image and the company has tried to improve their image. As already mentioned above, the change of the logo is just start, the company should make their new attitude or their new strategy and effectively bring them to their customers