The importance of logo descriptiveness in brand names
Author: Michela Roberto
Date of Publication: 31/10/2022
A descriptive logo tells customers what they need to know about your business immediately, rather than asking them to figure it out for themselves. But the question is: is logo descriptiveness really important? To answer this question, we’re going to analyze three separate and very different cases: two multinational brands (McDonald’s and Burger King) and a SME (A-More).
Burger King
Burger King displays a highly descriptive logo; consumers can instantly get what the brand is about. We can instantly spot the word burger in the logo and, of course, the shape recalls a burger too.
McDonald’s
Its competitor, instead, chooses a less descriptive logo. In fact, a less descriptive logo helps the brand recover from accusations and benefits it when the brand is already familiar to loyal customers. We can hardly spot the most popular product in the “M” of the logo, resembling the french-fries. Reputation problems can be easily faced using a less descriptive logo, McDonald’s is an example of this since it has always been under criticism, being accused of promoting an unhealthy lifestyle.
SME
Considerations about big companies can be applied to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. However, the threats of using a less descriptive logo for SME are that 1) consumers may not identify the brand’s offer in the market and 2) competitors might take over the market share.
A SME Case: A-More
A-More is an Italian community brand. Its logo is highly descriptive as it states “love is not enough we need more” explaining the aim of building a community. The logo suggests care as well as the mission of the brand does.
To care about consumers means to care about people, about diversity too.
Moreover, care about the environment.
In conclusion, brand logos are highly important for customers’ long-term loyalty. Logo descriptiveness is directly related to the purpose of the company. This way, if a company is facing some hash accusation it may be best to choose a less descriptive logo and this strategy may be useful if the brand is already well-known by the public. On the other hand, if a company has still to be known or is struggling to keep competitors away from the market share, the better option is to choose an easily recognizable logo, using minimalistic graphics and effective brand names.
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