Yahoo: New logo, same as the old?
Yahoo is introducing a new logo — only not right now. Each day for the next month, Yahoo will display one of the logos that didn’t make the cut. Then, on day 30, it’ll show us the new one that did.
Confused? Well you’re not the only one, said Chuck Byers, a marketing professor at the University of Santa Clara. He said the 30-day lead up is designed to do one thing. “They’re trying to create buzz,” Byers said. He says Yahoo’s looking to make the unveiling of a new logo into a 30 day buzzfeed. But the problem with buzz, it can work against you, said Petrula Vrontikis, who teaches branding at the Art Center College of Design.
“It’s hard to understand as a viewer, what exactly you’re being invited to,” Vrontikis said. She says Yahoo isn’t asking users to vote? And what if lots of people like one of the 29 logos that got cut? Then what? But confusion has been a familiar theme at Yahoo as the company struggles to find an identity. New CEO Marissa Mayer has been trying to change that snapping up nearly a dozen start-ups. But collectively, they haven’t given a clear vision of Yahoo’s future. And, Vrontikis says the branding campaign is only drawing attention to the problem. “The cost may be they’re trivializing not only their own mark but the process of developing a brand,” Vrontikis said.
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