I recently saw a poll in the Brand Management group on LinkedIn asking, “What is more important in brand? Brand Name or Brand Logo.” The pic may be small but the image below shows the responses. Sixty-four percent said that the brand name is more important.
The name is what I communicate as a user or customer. I don’t send the logo to friends or colleagues. I don’t speak in symbols (unlike the artist formerly known as Prince). We use the name of a company when talking about them.
This is not to say that logos are unimportant. They are the mark of the company after all and do convey information and emotion. And some companies and organizations have risen above the norm to create a logo that is integral to the brand and communicates different emotions to different people.
Ultimately, you are creating a brand – not a name or an image. But rather, emotions, experiences, memories and perceptions. Your job is to create a brand that is recognizable and begs me to action. The line between name and logo blurs when you do that well.