When choosing logos, images and symbols as part of your marketing efforts, it is important to understand the effects that these choices may have. In particular, there are three groups of people you will influence: customers, employees, and the general public. Here is how such choices may affect each:
1. Your customers
The most obvious of the three groups is your customers. Customers will make purchasing decisions, and have different emotional responses based on the choice of symbols used to represent a business. Accordingly, it is important to select representations which reinforce the brand identity, or strongest selling points of the business’ products and services. Any weaknesses in the symbol may cause potential customers to subconsciously question the business’ brand. Even worse, these symbolic shortcomings can be used by competitors in negative advertising, and can adversely affect brand image regardless of their truth. For these reasons, symbols which have mostly positive associations and few negative ones are ideal.
2. Your employees
Employees are a less obvious point of concern. However, if your brand includes questionable characters, color schemes, or other traits which associate the brand with dubious themes, over time these can subconsciously influence your employees in negative ways. Consider three different teams in the National Football League: the Cincinnati Bengals, the Oakland Raiders, and the New England Patriots. For the unfamiliar, the Bengals have a color scheme which includes stripes and day-glo orange, two features often associated with prison. Not surprisingly, the Bengals frequently have players who have problems with the law. The Oakland Raiders have as part of their logo the image of a pirate, and their organization often has a less disciplined approach to operations than other teams. In contrast, the New England Patriots have a mascot which generally has positive associations, and thus, they tend to have fewer player and organizational problems than some other teams.
3. The public
The public is also affected by branding choices. Public perception can make or break a brand, particularly when cross-cultural issues are not taken into account. For instance, Chevrolet encountered some problems with selling their popular Nova model of automobile in Spanish-speaking countries, until they learned that Nova translates to “No Go.” Justifying the purchase of a Nova to others is difficult when the brand name indicates it will not work properly! The wise choice of color can also affect the sale of food items, which almost never have black as a predominant color. Since black is commonly associated with mystery, uncertainty, and death, these are all associations which prudent food marketers do not wish to attach to their brands.
In summary, the branding decisions made affect not only the perception of customers and the public, but can affect the behavior of employees as well. For this reason, branding choices should be made carefully to convey the desired perception and reinforce appropriate behaviors. Failing to do so can have numerous unintended consequences, which can often be easily avoided.