Branded Mixed Signals By Will Novosedlik

While new logos should signal something new and exciting is going on at a company, Microsoft’s and eBay’s recent marks underwhelm and convey that business creaks along as usual

Ah, rebranding. The gift that keeps on giving visual identity designers, brand strategists, art directors and digital teams a reason to stay in business. What would we ever do without it?

Seems like two of the biggest such makeovers in recent months have done without us. I’m talking of course about eBay and Microsoft.

Before I rip into these two monumental fails (yawns?), I think it’s important to consider the reasons for “rebranding” (relax, this won’t take long). A brand image is a signal of value. If the signal changes (in this case, the logo), people read it as a sign that something different’s going on in the organization. They expect that something in the way the company does business is also changing. So, looking at these two logos, my first question is, what’s going on back at the ranch? What’s changed? What’s new and exciting?

Let’s start with eBay. Looks like the rose garden is as healthy as ever. In Q2 2012, bolstered by the purchase of PayPal, eBay delivered a 23 per cent year-on-year increase in overall revenues, which are on track to hit a projected $13-14 billion total for this year. Is there any reason to change that? Sounds to me like eBay’s kicking butt. Lively as ever.

So what’s with the stabilized, neutralized, anodyne logo update (top)? What was once a lively, action-oriented typographic dance (bottom) is now a soporific slide into graphic anonymity. The old mark had a soul. The vivid palette, the overlapping letters, the vertical ups and downs – these attributes combined to create a signal of energy. The new mark is telling me it’s time to go get my pipe and slippers.

Microsoft’s new mark (top; old, bottom), equally forgettable, is a little more enigmatic. Here’s a company which, for the 1980s and ’90s, ruled the PC universe. No one in those days would have predicted that the Apple iOS, with under 10 per cent of the world’s install base, would turn the tables so dramatically to become the most valuable company on the planet. Nor would anyone have predicted that would happen on the back of mobile. 

In the battle of the operating systems, Apple (34 per cent market share) and Android (52 per cent market share) are duking it out for supremacy while Microsoft is desperately trying to reinvent itself in the mobile space. Everything’s riding on its partnership with Nokia and the release of the Windows Phone. Tech reviews of the Nokia Lumia have been glowing, but with only four per cent market share, there’s an awfully long road ahead.

According to Microsoft, the new logo represents a “reimagining of our most popular products, a new era . . . our logo should evolve to visually accentuate this new beginning.” That sounds big. With all that going on, you’d think Ballmer & co. would want to send a signal of revolution, not “evolution.” But nope. They just flattened the old mark out. And added some starch. 

And here’s where the two exercises overlap: they both got more boring. They used to have movement. Movement is a sign of life. Does eBay want us to think it’s lying down? Does Microsoft want us to think that it’s even more of a sleeping giant? If they do, it’s working.

—Will Novosedlik has worked on brands both as a consultant and as a client in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. These brands include Nestlé Canada, Corby Distilleries, Swiss Chalet, Harvey’s, RSA Security, Bata International, Deutsche Telecom, Butterfield and Robinson, Telus Business Solutions, Vodafone and The Reitman Group. Recently, Novosedlik led the brand communications and customer experience teams that launched the WIND Mobile brand in Canada. He currently works as the VP Design Thinking & Brand at Idea Couture.

Comments

Justin

October 09, 2012 10:17 AM

Natasha

October 22, 2012 10:11 AM