This is what makes a great brand logo: For years companies have used logos to convey key brand messaging. They call out from the shelves and windows of shops, from billboards, TV campaigns, through to promotional products like t-shirts and more recently face masks.
Organizations have logos for the exact same reason why they have slogans: advertising. It’s an important part of brand building and helps to shape business identity by defining its position within its industry while having a profound effect on culture.
But what makes a really good logo? Essentially, an impactful one should resonate with your audience, evoke emotional responses and make your customers want to find out more about your business.
You only need to look at some of the most memorable brands to reflect upon whether, or not your company’s logo cuts the mustard.
Evidently a logo that stands out is simple yet effective. The goal? To leave a key brand message in peoples’ minds so that, if they remember nothing else from the advertisement, that they’ll remember the company associated with the logo.
Customer recall is also considered one of the most effective ways of measuring its success, while longevity goes along way in enhancing recall. In fact, according to new research by promotional products company 4imprint.co.uk, brand logos are viewed as important to people with 83 percent of 1,000 shoppers surveyed saying that even felt “comforted” when they see company’s visual identity.
Its data discovered that two thirds of British shoppers say that the logo of a brand plays a role in our purchasing decision, while additional figures show that more than half prefer it when they buy a branded item and there is a clearly visible logo to show where it came from. In fact, people are willing to pay more than 10 per cent over the odds for a product from a brand they like, over a non-branded version.
Which are the best logos?
The best brand logos of all time are revealed in a new report published by the promotional marketing experts. Its researchers polled the nation to discover the most iconic logos with The Nike swoosh – designed by Carolyn Davidson in 1971 – coming top (44 percent), followed by the ubiquitous Apple logo (34 percent), the brainchild of graphic designer Rob Janoff.
In third place was Mickey Mouse’s famous circular ears (21 percent), used by Disney for many of its subsidiaries, while the castle and Walt’s famed signature features on its movies.
The Michelin Man, the four interlocking circles of German car maker Audi, and the Google logo all made the definitive list as did Coca-Cola and the Starbucks “siren”. Amazon’s arrow, Ferrari’s horse and Adidas’s striped flower also ranked highly.
What makes a good logo?
When asked what type of logos people believe get over brand values best, Monogram logos like Volkswagen, Gucci or Louis Vuitton came top with 44 percent of the vote, followed by Wordmark logos such as VISA, Coca Cola, Google and NASA (41 percent) and Pictorial mark logos (or logo symbols) similarly to Apple’s, twitter and Instagram came in third with 40 percent.
Findings by the UK’s leading promotional marketing retailer reveals that bold colors (51 percent) are seen as the most important part of a brand logo, followed by typeface (33 percent) and simple lettering (30 percent).
What are the main reasons for choosing certain brands?
The research delved into our relationship with corporations with 77 percent saying they “trusted” certain brands and 83 percent saying they chose brands that they had heard of.
Four out of five people said they had recommended a brand they trusted to friends out of a sense of loyalty. Price (57 percent) was the top reason for choosing a brand, followed by reliability (55 percent) and then value (49 percent).
Interestingly, the research found that 51 percent of people feel MORE connected to online brands such as Google and Twitter, compared to offline brands – with only 22 percent saying they felt less connected (and 26 percent saying they’re equally connected).
However, two thirds of respondents said that people do put too much trust in brands. And half of us have fallen out with a brand which we won’t use again.
Summary
The study shows that consumers clearly identify and buy particular products and services from businesses with a strong brand recognition and a logo is integral to influencing shopping behavior.
It appears that brand logos are hugely important to many and evidently branding is the cornerstone of marketing. If you get your logo and brand identity right, it can have a huge impact on the success of your business.
Promotional merchandise is key to increasing brand awareness, so be sure that your company logo is printed on all your marketing materials to fully engage with new or existing customers to encourage repeat purchases. Your logo on the right product is marketing magic. Why? Because promotional products work!
TOP 25 BRAND LOGOS – THE DEFINITIVE LIST
- Nike swoosh
- Apple’s apple bite
- Disney’s Mickey Mouse Silhouette
- Coca Cola’s swirly writing
- Amazon’s arrow
- Ferrari’s horse
- Mercedes three pointed star
- Audi’s four interlocking rings
- Jaguar’s Jaguar
- Adidas’s striped flower
- The Starbucks Siren
- Twitter’s Bird
- Google’s colored logo
- British Airways’ Flying Flag
- Guinness’s harp
- Michelin’s Michelin Man
- Toblerone mountain
- Ikea’s blue and yellow lettering
- Facebook’s f
- Subway’s S with arrows
- Boots’s writing
- Ford’s blue writing
- BP’s green sun
- HSBC’s Red and white triangles
- Walls’s heart.
