It happened on a day like any other. I was at my last corporate job reading emails when I received a meeting invite to help with a project. But this wasn’t just any project. It had a name and a logo that was not the company logo. It might as well have been a project more suited to NASA. It had a space theme and a clip art logo. Ugh. A communicator’s pet peeve. Uh, Houston – we’ve got an identity problem. There was a growing trend in the company of rogue logos and strange project names with lots of acronyms that had nothing to do with our company. A sort of logo and acronym soup was simmering.
One department in particular was so proud of its logo, I knew it was going to be incredibly resistant to let go of it. Armed with the creative director, I met with the department head whose jaw dropped when he heard that his logo was “childish” looking. I was secretly elated to hear this. But the light bulb seemed to go off when the creative director explained how his wayward logo was competing with the company logo.
Sure it’s great that project team members are excited about their work and want to gain visibility for it. But what’s a communicator or marketer to do when faced with a sea of project names and logos in direct competition with the corporate identity? The way I see it, the company logo reigns supreme. There is no need for lots of other logos. They dilute the brand. From the outside looking in, multiple logos and project names can appear to be like independent companies all shouting to get noticed.
Here are some ideas to help cast your brand protector net over those project names and logos gone wild:
- Start communicating about brand identity and graphic standards early. Orientation is a great place to start.
- Create a graphics standards policy that can be easily found. Post it on your intranet.
- Think visually. Educate employees about your brand identity through examples they can see. Video is a powerful way to do this.
- Send out periodic reminders through your communications channels.
- Compromise. Yes – there are little things that can be done. Instead of creating a logo, how about a typeface using the company’s brand font of choice?
- Arm managers with talking points so they can be prepared to answer questions and address situations sooner rather than later.
What’s your opinion of multiple logos and project names? How do you address them in your company?
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