datacloud

memory and capitalism

monochrom documents the fact that people cannot re-draw logos from memory.

Logos included Adidas (above), Lacoste, Coca-Cola, and others. As you might expect, recall was pretty low (sometimes humorously low--a leaf for Adidas? that must have been the equivalent of drawing a smiley face on your final exam bubble sheet).

But while some point to this as a failure of marketing, I don't think it's really a relevant test of the power of a logo. Logos are about mindshare; consumers only have to recognize them in order to get them to work. They function at the point of purchase decisions, and only require that the consumer be swayed by the accumulated weight of previous impressions toward that logo's product. Reproducing the logo has little to do with it, aside from the possible fact that simple logos might be both easier to recognize and easier to reproduce. Posted by johndan at January 27, 2004 03:08 PM | TrackBack