Meeta Malhotra on how a logo is only one element in an overall brand experience —Expert Talk in The Economic Times

1. A
sian Paints has unveiled its new
brand identity and logo, with ac-
tor Soha Ali Khan at “Colour with
Asianpaints”, the Asian Paints consumer
experience and décor consulting store.
The new logo reflects a more meaning-
ful and personalised engagement with
the increasing number of interior décor
consumers in the home, retail and com-
mercial segments across India. Asian
Paints is now a complete décor and de-
sign solutions company, having also
launched the first branded home paint-
ing service in the world under the brand
name ‘Asian Paints Home Solutions’
and the colour inspiration concept
store.
THE CHANGE WAS INSPIRED
BY RESEARCH INSIGHTS THAT
REVEALED THAT:
● Upward mobility of the urban middle
class has been rising quite rapidly
over the past several years – which
has resulted in a higher involvement
and willingness to invest in home
aesthetics.
● The emerging professionals group
consisting of double income profes-
sionals or younger influencers such
as teenagers/young adults prefer de-
sign and décor companies that assist
the makeover process through colour
guidance, paint process guidance
and related services.
● The home makeover process that in-
cludes tiling, upholstery, furniture etc.
cuts out a significant portion of the
home owner's budget. Hence, the
paint category has immense poten-
tial to use colour in an innovative and
creative manner to provide more de-
sign and decor solutions than ever
before.
Commenting on the new brand iden-
tity change initiative, Amit Syngle, Vice-
President Sales and Marketing, Asian
Paints Limited says, “The change in our
brand identity signifies our intent to es-
tablish a deeper connect with our cus-
tomers as well as ensure that the Asian
Paints brand is able to stir the con-
sumer’s imagination, ignite their creativ-
ity as well as expand their vision to a
new vista of possibility. Our new logo
conveys those elements with the flow-
ing ribbon formation that creates the
‘AP’ design highlighting the easy flow,
smoothness, dynamism and possibility
that our solution and offerings will pro-
vide. As part of our effort in creating
and managing inspiration, we go the
extra mile in enabling consumers to de-
sign the home of their dreams.”
Syngle further added, “Our aim is to
start our interaction with customers by
providing inspiration or managing the
inspiration of the customer. As part of
the process we must ensure a system-
atic and seamless one-stop-solution for
colour and décor guidance, best labour
practices, on time and efficient service
delivery and follow-up knowledge on
maintenance of their newly painted
beautiful homes, thereby alleviating the
pain usually experienced in the home
renovation process. Ideally the transfor-
mation of a consumer’s home is where
we would want to extend our partner-
ship through products and services.”
>>
pg 02
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2012
S
udarshan Dheer, the white
pony-tailed 75-year-old
granddaddy of Indian
graphic design, looks spiri-
tual at first glance – serene, simple
and minimalist, much like the
work he has produced over 35
years in the business. Many
Indian corporates like
Hindustan Petroleum, Titan
Industries, IDBI Bank, Kissan
Jams are among the 100-plus
companies whose logos and
brand identities have been de-
signed by Dheer. He has also
published and edited The
World of Symbols/Logos &
Trademarks – India. Excerpts
from a chit-chat with
R Sridhar
You have been the brain
behind so many of India’s
best-known logos? How
does it feel when you
look at them now?
Well, I normally try to
disown a logo mental-
ly the moment I make
it and the client accepts it.
Disown?
Yes, it’s necessary to do that. To stay
detached. Often, companies later
change logos without informing me
despite there being an agreement
that I will be kept in the loop in all fu-
ture logo changes.
That must be difficult, especially
considering the effort you put into
creating the brand identity.
Well, there is a lot of effort that goes
into creating a brand identity. The
challenge is to deal with moving time.
After all, nothing is static. There are so
many competing products in the mar-
ket today and people’s needs and de-
sires keep changing. Hence, the think-
ing needs to be global and the design
local. The focus is not to create a mere
design; it is to create a differentiation
from the consumer’s point of view - a
differentiation that is original, unique
and relevant to the corporate goals,
consumers and the times we live in.
How do you approach a brand de-
sign?
I think, evaluate, plan and evolve solu-
tions. The logo is the culmination of
this process. If you have to succeed in
this field, you need to be able to get
into the psyche of the client and the
consumer. After all, we create designs
for others, not for ourselves. I try to
transcend beyond senses and go to a
deeper level. I keep questioning my-
self. The more you question, the more
is your intensity to produce good
work.
So, the entire process is intuitive.
Yes, very much. One needs to go in-
side to produce a work for the out-
side. It’s a process, not a formula.
There is no shortcut. A design has to
live long. It has to grow in the cus-
tomer’s mind. It takes a lot of time to
fructify.
And how many designs are shown be-
fore zeroing in on the final one?
About 50 of them.
You have been in the industry for so
many decades and have seen how de-
sign has evolved over the years. What
role has technology played in its
growth?
Technology is important no doubt,
but I feel technology should be taken
only as technology, as a complimen-
tary tool, and not to the human level.
Your hallmark has been your simplici-
ty of design. Do you have any
favourites in terms of design styles?
Nothing can beat a logo with a clever
mix of design and negative space. The
negative and the positive always exist
and have to be always taken into con-
sideration.
SOME OF HISWORKS
HP:‘The logo of Hindustan Petroleum
stands for the way oil gushes out
from the earth.The circle around it
is to show even distribution in the
country.’
TITAN:“When I
visited their facto-
ry,every moment,
every place and every step,I could find that there is
a sense of perfection.The kind of experience I went
through while I interacted with each worker and the
kind of environment they have created all reflects
perfection. Hence there is a sense of symmetry in
theTitan logo.”
KISSAN: “Food involves the
taste of the tongue and the
palate.The logo,derived from
the‘K’ itself,represents the
tongue and palate. In fact,the
curve of the letter K is the movement you make
when you are applying jam on a toast.”
ESSAR:“They wanted to
create dynamism and a
movement and not symbol-
ise a static company. So,
through the two red blocks we’ve represented the
elements of movement.”
One needs to go inside to
produce a work for the
outside. It’s a process, not
a formula. There is no
shortcut
A
discussion on logo
change tends to polarise
into two view-points. One,
which says that logo
changes are unnecessary and
meaningless and the other which
maintains that logo change is at
the heart of a brand refresh. Both
are wrong.
The confusion stems from the
fact that logos are the most visible
part of a brand. When a brand an-
nounces a refresh, the logo is the
first thing that catches the public
eye and attention. Branding pro-
grammes with vastly different ap-
proaches – and therefore very dif-
ferent returns on investment– are
clubbed together under the label
‘logo change’.
IT’S JUST BUSINESS
Before making changes to any part
of a brand, the short, medium and
long-term business objectives
must be clearly understood. What
is the brand change meant to ac-
complish? How will this be meas-
ured? How will you know if it is a
success? Any intelligent brand re-
fresh will start with these questions
– to which there are no easy an-
swers. The biggest mistake brands
make is to think about answers
from ‘helicopter’, 30,000 feet per-
spective. To say we want our brand
to be younger and more contem-
porary is all very well but what ex-
actly does that mean for brand and
business strategy? What does it
mean for recruitment and training?
Does your product portfolio sup-
port your ambition? Do your cul-
ture and people? What do you
need to stop, start or continue do-
ing? Have you factored in external
feedback? Thought about future
trends? A brand refresh can only be
successful if these issues are
sweated through and examined in
as granular a manner as possible.
Very often, the process of question-
ing will throw up interesting chal-
lenges (and opportunities) for the
business.
THE EXPERIENCE IS THE
BRAND
When business issues have been
sorted through and expectations
from the brand are clear, it is time
to formulate a strategy that delivers
on the brand promise. Again, a ro-
bust process will look for detailed
answers. Beware of a process that
stops at motherhood and apple
pie statements that are high on
emotional content, but make no
reference to how they will actually
create impact. I call this being
‘powerpointed’ and it is one of the
biggest pitfalls of a branding exer-
cise. Effective brand strategy thinks
through brand experience as it is
delivered across multiple touch-
points. It thinks about the nitty grit-
ty stuff like messages, service,
channels, budgets, timelines and it
stays focused on the core question
‘How does my target audience feel
after they interact with my brand?’
ALWAYS BY DESIGN
Finally, it is time to talk about brand
design and its hero – the logo. If
brands have remained unchanged
for a long period, a brand refresh
will more often than not call for a
change in the visual identity. This is
a natural outcome of the brand
needing to align itself with fast-
evolving audiences. A visible
change in the face of the brand is
also an excellent signal of new
thinking on the inside.
Here’s the all-important rider – if
the logo changes, it must be ac-
companied by changes in brand
experience. Changes in experi-
ence, however, take a while to reg-
ister and recall. A new logo on the
other hand, makes everyone sit up
and ask what’s going on. A brand
refresh that is supported by a
smart strategy will use the logo
change to create waves externally
and rally sentiment internally. A
change of logo serves almost like a
line in the sand between the old
way and the heralding of the new
way. It raises expectations and
there lies the danger. If, even after
a passage of time, the logo change
is not supported by a change in
brand experience, brand-led busi-
ness growth will not ensue. Like
the lipstick on the proverbial goril-
la, the brand refresh may turn a
few heads but lacks the power to
do more.
Effectivebrandstrategythinksthroughbrand
experienceasitisdeliveredacrossmultipletouch-points
EXPERTTALK
Beyond Logo
Asian Paints gets a new brand identity
Meeta Malhotra is Director, Ray+Keshavan/The Brand Union and one of the
firm’s two founding partners. She consults with clients across diverse industries
to help them craft compelling brand experiences.
‘Design is a process, not a formula’
The new logo reflects a more meaningful and personalised engagement with the increasing
number of interior décor consumers in the home, retail and commercial segments across India
A logo is the face of a brand. It
builds recognition, familiarity, trust
and loyalty. A logo is an endorse-
ment of quality. Without a logo, a
product is a commodity. With a
logo, a product becomes a brand.
SHAFALIKA SAXENA
CMO, Microsoft India
A logo is in many ways a
brand’s signature. It signals the
brand’s category, the brand’s
personality, even its price point
in some cases. Brand building
starts with the logo.
KARTIK SMETACEK
Group Creative Director, DraftFCb Ulka
Amit Syngle with actor Soha Ali Khan unveiling the new logo
AMIT SYNGLE
Vice-President Sales and
Marketing, Asian Paints Ltd
The change in our
brand identity signifies
our intent to establish a
deeper connect with
our customers
Here’s how these iconic logos were born…
What’s new?
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is a coffeehouse
chain based in the United States. The
current company logo, modelled after a
15th century Norse woodcut, is a
mixoparthenos, or "twin-tailed mermaid, or
siren as she's known in Greek mythology. The compa-
ny and the logo have an interesting history. In January
2011, Starbucks released a new version of the logo
with a couple of big changes and some subtle changes
as well. The two major changes made to the logo are:
● They removed the name of the company "Starbucks
Coffee". Their intention behind this may be to ex-
pand the brand to beyond coffee. They have been
talking about expanding into breakfast and there
was also talk of a Bar/Lounge concept. This makes
sense if they want to expand but maybe they should
have kept the name "Starbucks" and removed
"Coffee".
● They also removed the circle around the Siren and
the logo now features just the Siren.
The logo has some subtle changes including smooth-
ing her hair, refining her facial features, weighting the
scales on her tail to bring the focus to her face. The logo
refinements were done by Lippincott.
LG
The LG Group was a merger of two
Korean companies, Lucky and
GoldStar, from which the abbreviation
of LG was derived. The LG brand originated from Lucky
Gold Star. The company now tries to promote its new
tagline "Life's Good". The LG logo has the alphabets, L &
G in the form of a face. The symbol consists of two ele-
ments: the LG logo in LG Grey and the stylised image of
a human face in the unique LG Red colour.
● The letters "L" and "G" in a circle symbolise the
world, future, youth, humanity and technology. The
symbol also represents LG's efforts to maintain close
relationships with our customers worldwide;
● Red, the main colour, represents friendliness, and
also gives a strong impression of LG's commitment
to the best.
MercedesBenz
The Mercedes-Benz logo
is a simplistic three-point-
ed star that represents its
domination of the land, the sea, and the air. The fa-
mous three-pointed star was designed by Gottlieb
Daimler to show the ability of his motors for land, air
and sea-usage. It was first seen on a Daimler in 1909,
and was combined with the Benz laurel wreath in
1926 to signify the union of the two firms.
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Inspiring Change