The whole purpose of branding is to make your company memorable. You want your audience to remember your jingle, your signature products and most certainly, your logo. In fact, companies spend quite a bit to find that perfect, memorable image to use as the “face” for their brand.
So, when custom signage firm, Signs.com decided to put some famous logos to the test – asking 156 Americans (ages 20 to 70) to draw 10 popular logos from memory – we’re betting they thought most people would at least get close. And granted, some did…
But some… well, see for yourself!
This is the Burger King logo from 1954 to present day. As you can see, it’s changed quite a bit over the years. When the test group was asked to reproduce this logo – with no outside help or prompts – here’s what they came up with:
As you can see, only 18% drew a “near-perfect” image. 21% drew the old logo and another 21% just drew a crown! Ready to try another one?
That’s the Starbuck’s logo, from 1971 until now. We all know Starbuck’s, right? We’d recognize that logo anywhere. We just can’t necessarily recreate it from memory:
Only 6% produced an accurate representation of the famous mermaid and another 31% drew an older version instead. You’ll also notice that quite a few people drew the mermaid, but forgot either her crown or her tail.
Now, let’s look at the Apple logo. It’s a pretty simple logo to remember and has even kept its major characteristics consistent since it’s second version in 1977.
But when asked to draw the logo, the study group still struggled a bit.
20% produced a near-perfect drawing – which is better than both the Burger King and Starbuck’s attempt, but 22% drew the apple bite on the wrong side and 16% forgot the apple bite altogether!
Participants did a little better on the Target logo.
Here’s the original logo from 1962 and all the changes made since:
And here’s what our study group produced:
A whopping 25% produced a near-perfect drawing, but 41% drew too many circles on the target and another 41% forgot to include the company’s name.
Okay, let’s look at the 7 Eleven logo…
As you can see, 7 Eleven hasn’t changed much over the years and in fact, has had the same logo since they updated it in 1969. Should be a no-brainer, right?
Well, in fact, 41% remembered the green border and 44% placed the “eleven” across the number seven. But only 19% created a near-perfect drawing and 31% wrote the eleven as a number. So, maybe this logo isn’t as memorable as we thought.
And finally, Walmart.
This is what their logos have looked like over the years, beginning in 1962 and including their current logo, in place since 2008.
And here’s what the study group drew:
Obviously, the group did a little better with this one. Only 12% produced a near-perfect drawing, but 44% had it right, but drew a different type of sun. Another 18% combined produced some variation of an old or old/new logo and only 3% were completely off the mark… they just drew a smiley face
Want to see more? Check out the complete study.
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