You know, some elements of this video from Denmark-based digital agency Inetdesign seem awfully familiar.
That's because the clip uses famous logos to explain the importance of branding. Sort of. The colors, dimensions and basic design elements of the corporate marks are unchanged, but the company names have been replaced by words from the video's story.
For example, "design" is rendered in the fashion of Disney's monochrome logo, "future" follows Facebook's blocky minimalist model, and perhaps best of all, "loud and clear" glows against a starry background, like an affirmation from a Jedi knight setting off on some celestial crusade. (And there are many more to sample.)
"Even if you change the most important thing of every brand—the name—if all other elements are strong enough—color, typography—you will still be able to recognize the brand in a second," Inetdesign partner Martin Rickmann tells AdFreak.
That's a point well illustrated here. It goes a long way toward explaining why companies that make logo changes are probably best advised to keep the basic look and feel intact.
"Every logo redesign is a risky move," says Rickmann. "But as long as you stay on the path of your brand and don't jeopardize your recognizability, it will be fine. It is absolutely normal and even necessary to refresh your image since brands change and evolve."
Both Google and Verizon followed that advice in their recent rebrands.
"The redesign of Google's logo and creation of that whole branding system is great," says Rickmann. "Search engines and especially Google are different from what they were. Google turned into a world-leading brand and business. Identity changes like that should result in visual changes, too."
