LOGO DESIGN BLOG   LOGO DESIGN REVIEW

Two months ago, General Motors announced it will be putting the GM corporate logo on its vehicles starting in 2006, starting with the Pontiac G6. Eventually the logo will adorn each of GM’s eight brands–Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, Hummer, Saturn, Buick, Saab, Saturn and Pontiac. This is a huge mistake. According to a GM press release, one of the reasons they decided to put the logo on their vehicles is because people don’t normally associate a vehicles’ brand, i.e. Saturn, with the corporation, GM. But this may not be such a bad thing.

GM lost more than a billion dollars last quarter, and the company is facing more losses in the future. Their U.S. market share has decreased from 44 to 27 percent as well. The last thing they should be wanting to do is help people make an association between a struggling company and their new Corvette.

And what about all the money GM has spent trying to distinguish and position its several brands? Putting the logo on all GM vehicles puts them all on the same plane, which customers don’t necessarily want. I found some interesting feedback about this branding decision on GM’s own blog (GM Fastlane):

Said one blogger:

“You don’t see a DaimlerChrysler emblem on the side of a Mercedes, a Toyota emblem on a Lexus, or a Ford emblem on a Jaguar or Land Rover.

GM is NOT a brand, don’t throw away all of your brand capital you have struggled to build.”

I agree. I would never want my $80,000 Cadillac XLR to have the same logo as a measley Saturn costing less than $16,000. Another interesting quote:

“It will hurt sales, it will hurt owner loyalty and create more criticism than acceptance…Brand individualism is key if you want to survive. Stick to originality…and cut it out with the badging.”

The truth is people probably don’t care all that much about GM even though they might feel strongly about one of their brands. When you purchase Tide to do your laundry, do you know who the parent company is? (Its Procter & Gamble, by the way). But does that matter? Most people simply want their clothes clean, and they know Tide will do it. You don’t need to see a P/G logo on the package to realize the detergent will work. Most people don’t have any strong ties to the company anyway. The same goes for GM.

Despite negative reaction and concern about brand individualism, GM is going forward with this plan. We’ll just have to see what happens…

Every time a merger occurs between two companies, it’s interesting to see how the new, emerging company will brand themselves–especially in terms of their logo. Merging companies not only must decide how to blend the business strategies and company cultures and goals, but they have to combine logos as well. This is especially true of large corporations that have spent thousands of dollars designing the perfect logo for their business. The logos are normally well-recognized and have strong ties with many consumers.

Along those lines, I read a press release today stating that Sprint and Nextel are going to merge pending shareholder approval and some other details in the third quarter of this year. Most consumers recognize both companies’ logos, so which should win out? Sprint has been around longer, but Nextel has a strong brand that is easy to recognize.

Every industry and company will probably handle the issue differently. For example, in the Cingular/AT&T Wireless merger (which was actually more of a buyout), the Cingular logo is the only one now used, with the only alteration of it being the addition of AT&T’s blue color to the word ‘Cingular.’

Sprint and Nextel are taking a different approach. The classic “pin drop” icon Sprint is famous for will blend with the strong line that follows the past Nextel logo, to form an interesting and very well executed logo blend. Nextel’s black and yellow will be the new color combination, which were considered stronger than Sprint’s. The design is simple and effective. I think I like this new logo better than either of the companies’ old logos. That said, Nextel will still be using their old logo for advertising products and services.

Blending corporate identities cannot be an easy task. Obviously, both companies would probably just rather use their own logo and identity and simply drop the other, as with AT&T Wireless, but that can be unwise. As a customer, I came to like AT&T Wireless, and felt like they valued my business. But when I decided to upgrade my phone, I was told by Cingular I would have to sign a new contract and become a Cingular customer. With no AT&T logo in sight, and a comparably unfriendly staff, I felt alienated and ended up switching to a new carrier. Who knows how many others felt the same.

I’m just glad I’m not the one who has to decide how to integrate two companies’ identities and still have brand recognition and loyalty.

In an article last month in the New York Times, the NBA admitted it is considering allowing logos on player’s uniforms. This should come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with the sports business; and yes, sports is all about making money. Just read this quote from Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, about putting logos on NBA uniforms.

“Anything that creates new revenue sources is good for both the teams and the players,” he said. “The NBA is a business.”

There you have it.

Basketball is not the first industry to be tempted by the financial benefits of logos on uniforms. Remember the controversy that surrounded the proposal of promoting ‘Spiderman 2’ through Major League Baseball? The idea was to attract a younger audience to baseball games by putting the Spiderman logo on the bases. Eventually, the idea was canned, but these kinds of proposals will continue, and sooner or later, the business-minds in the sports industry will give in.

Should this be considered a shame—a breach of tradition? Do logos cheapen a sport? Before angrily protesting this monstrosity, consider this.

For years, NASAR has allowed sponsoring companies to plaster their logos helmets, uniforms and cars, and NASCAR is becoming one of the most popular sports in the country. In Europe, all the big soccer clubs have sponsors that put their logos on player’s jerseys.

Team sponsoring is a million-dollar-a-year industry. It’s only a matter of time before the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB give in to logo filled uniforms. And it’s not a shame—it’s business.