I was looking for an image for a blog post about the Olympics and I came across the logo to the left. I was kind of surprised. I have watched more of this winter Olympics than just about any other. Even while in Nashville last week, I watched what I could. However, I’ve never seen this logo yet it appears to be the official Olympic logo. I remember the controversy a few years ago about the design of the London Olympic logo, how no one liked it even though millions had been spent on it. I imagine that Canada spent a fortune on this logo, yet I can’t say I’ve ever seen it.
I did go back and look at the logos of past Olympics and most were recognizable (Okay, I didn’t recognize Torino, but I honestly don’t remember Torino at all. Where was I and why didn’t I watch any of it?). I even vividly remember Barcelona’s logo and that was almost 20 years ago.
There’s a lesson here. I’ve been at churches that have experienced brand confusion. The church had a new logo, yet various people in the church hadn’t gotten the memo and were still sending out notes on the old letterhead. Even right now at the ministry I’m at, there is some definite brand confusion for the Children’s Ministry. There’s never been a official logo (although a clip art graphic found it’s way on a few documents) and since I’ve been here, I haven’t been committed to anything until we officially re-brand.
How clear is your brand? Do your volunteers recognize it? Do your parents? How about your kids? I think we’ve all found ourselves in the middle of brand confusion. If that’s the case, what is your exit plan?
Cracks me up that you haven’t seen it, because I’ve grown sick of seeing it everywhere. On speed skating alone, it was on the wall no less than 4 times around the loop, and was center ice for the Hockey game I just watched…
Perspectives, I guess…
Great thoughts on church branding. It’s always bugged me when there are 10 different “brand” logos within the same church…got thoughts on that?
I guess I need to write another post about not paying attention. I’ve literally not seen it at all… but I guess I wasn’t paying close enough attention. Ha!
Excellent post, Kenny. I agree a lot of churches run into these challenges.. or more often the confusion comes from multiple ministries communicating with people outside the church without any connection back to the church. [Focusing instead on just their own ministry logo, creating a “church within a church” of sorts]
You’re right–Clarity and consistency is critical to avoid confusion. [wasn’t trying for an alliteration there, but hey, let’s go with it]
Thanks for posting!