Can a logo redesign fix a damaged brand?

Nope, not in a million years.

Successfully changing a damaged brand requires a bucket load more work than just updating your logo, but the common misconception that branding and logo design are the same causes many businesses to think otherwise. Although the two are closely tied together, there are some critical differences between them.

Branding is all about how you are perceived; it’s the emotion customers feel when interacting with your business. In comparison, a logo (also commonly known as a brand mark, mark, logo, symbol, or brand icon) is a visual representation of your brand.  

A logo is a vital component of branding, but so is every other touchpoint between your business and your customers. Your brand is everything from the fonts and colours you use in your messaging to the tone of voice staff use when answering the phone. Branding is everywhere in your business and in everything that you do.

Branding is a feeling you have associated with a company, whereas a logo is a visual representation of that brand.

To illustrate this, let’s compare a few brands:

• Waitrose & Iceland
• Coca-Cola & Pepsi
• McDonald’s & Burger King
• Brewdog & Budweiser

Although they offer similar products or services, you’ll have a different opinion about each brand. While a company’s logo might not resonate with its customers, it is unlikely a customer will boycott their products or services due to it. It’s through our experiences with dealing with brands that influence how we feel about them and dictates which business we choose to use and avoid. Which just illustrates why your brand transcends your logo.

It only takes one member of staff to be rude to us to destroy how we perceive that brand instantly. Repeat this scenario enough times to enough people, and a negative reputation forms and the brand becomes damaged. In these instances, a logo update will never change how customers feel about the brand as it never addresses the route of the problem, in this simplistic example, rude staff. 🤬

There are many reasons to change your logo, but fixing a damaged brand isn’t one of them. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts to change how your brand is perceived; strategy, hard work and time are all required to change public perception.

If your ship is leaking the best thing to do is find the cause of the leak and plug it because I have a sinking feeling giving it a fresh lick of paint instead isn’t going to help.