Don't blame the logo

When business is not good the first thing a marketer will do is change the logo. And sadly leaders trust them and follow along. It's not the logos' fault. When you've been outmanoeuvred by a competitor, failed in your service levels, denied innovation and put profits and margins in front of people, you can find yourself playing catch up. So what do you most marketers do? Change the logo. That should fix it. The problem is that the mistakes and shortfalls that got you to where you are in the first place haven't gone away, all you've done is change the logo. It's not the logos' fault. Recently the new GM logo was released. They went on about how the vibrant blue tones evoke clean skies, zero-emissions and the energy of the Ultium platform [GM’s EV battery system] ...the underline of the “m” connects to the previous GM logos as well as visually representing the Ultium platform, the negative space of the “m” is a nod to the shape of an electrical plug...And so they went on. Playing catch up to the likes of Elon Musk who told the world about electric vehicles a decade ago and started to break the paradigms of what vehicles, whether they be electric or not, could be ...was ignored. It's not the logos' fault and the change in the logo won't fix a lack of leadership, a lack of innovation, a lack of current strategic intention that makes a great company great now, and into the future. Don't let anyone tell you that just changing the logo will fix your problems.