Don’t Modernize the Brand Out of Your Logo
There is a spate of logo remodels going on across the country. And rightfully so: Many logos just don’t work in an internet environment like mobile or on an app. One company has decided not to design out its history and its brand from its new look.
Metro Goldwyn Mayer has unveiled a new updated logo. If you expected a flat design with yellow greens and aqua blues, you will be surprised. The logo is the traditional golden color. In fact, the sepia tones have been removed. The new logo is CGI. So a new lion was not introduced, but the designers cleaned up and sharpened the design — and did not destroy 60 years of history, identity and branding.
It is modernized, but in a subtle way that will build on all the past brand equity. The new logo was intended to premiere in the new James Bond film “No Time to Die,” but that release is still up in the air due to COVID-19. So no MGM-like fanfare, just a simple rollout to new and old audiences. The Latin tagline — Ars Gratia Artis (Art for Art’s Sake) — was not thrown aside either but has now become part of the marketing for the organization — a modernizing of the spirit that has driven this Hollywood staple.
New logos do need to represent the future, but if you fail to bring along the past, you will shake off all the brand equity you’ve built over time — equity you can never get back.
Mark Mathis III is chief creative & strategy officer, partner and cofounder of AMPERAGE Marketing & Fundraising.