Some Alternatives to “Make the Logo BIGGER”
How to make your brand bigger without making your logo bigger. A common-sense approach to branding.
I came across this video by chance and I adore it, and if you are in marketing you probably will find it relatable too. “Make the logo bigger” presumably performs highest in any chart of most heard sentences in communication agency feedback sessions. I am guilty of using it several times during my career, but there is an element of truth, as always, with a marketing meme. And that truth sits comfortably somewhere in the middle of the two extremes: on one end, an ad that shows your logo as big as the entire screen, and on the other end of the spectrum, a sixty seconds movie that forgets to introduce your brand.
As guardians of our brands, we think it is our role to mark our territory, to clarify that this is not a piece of art, and this is our brand message. And we are almost right to do so. Anyone exposed to advertising is by now aware they are watching a brand message-no need to take your customer as a fool. Anywhere those ads are seen: in Social news feeds, on out of home panels, or on TV screens, our audience knows they are watching advertising. We probably need to admit to ourselves we are producing ads preferably with our brand well integrated.
The absence of branding is a decisive factor for failures in advertising, but the opposite isn’t always true. Merely showing the brand is not enough. There is no magic formula, but there are lots of approaches that can marginally increase your chances of success. Try them all and measure their impact on your brand. Here are 3 examples, I found useful: integrating the product (with the brand visible) in your story as a hero, showing your brand distinctive characteristics early and often, or even generating digital traffic through a call to action. This is how you can make your brand bigger without necessarily increasing the font. And when all seems lost, and you don’t have any other idea, watch the video above and sing along: “Make the logo bigger.”
Image drawn by Tom Fishburne @Marketoonist
