So, DC released their new, updated logo over the weekend. And oh, the wailing and gnashing of teeth among the fans. The most common complaint that the old "Bullet" logo was just fine, that the new one looks like it belongs on a bottle of dish soap, and that DC hates kittens. I can't speak to that last, but as for the first two:
The "bullet" was cool, I'll admit, but DC's entering a new era, trying to match Marvel's branding initiative. This is a massive, multimedia push, an attempt to rise out of the lower tier of the Time Warner empire. And marketing people love grand symbolic gestures. So, a new logo is not at all surprising, and actually makes good sense from a business perspective (the one most often ignored by complaining fans).
Secondly, if there really is a problem with the logo's design (we won't know for sure until the first week in June, when it will take its place in the upper left corner, and when it starts showing up in front of DC movies and TV shows), it's a simple fix, one DC can make in about thirty seconds with Photoshop: Change the color. A darker blue, maybe a maroon, something a bit more eye-catching. Heck, DC's used different colors for the current logo for years. It's not that big a problem, and it's certainly not the end of comics as we know them.
Lastly, I remind fans that we live in a cross-media world, and that a more standout logo is a more memorable logo, one more likely to catch the eye of a casual browser in the bookstore. That reader will, hopefully, connect that logo to the one he saw in front of the Batman movie, and his interest will be piqued. That there's the whole point: getting people to notice the comics. 'Kay? 'Kay.
3 comments:
Well, it's actually more about getting people to notice the company and creating a brand loyalty and identity, whether it be comics, toys, television, or toilet paper. Time Warner doesn't care where the money comes from, just that it does.
NOOOOO!
I view it as circular, Joe, in that part of establishing and spreading the brand is feeding the audiences for each product into each other, so that the person buying the toys, watching the show, or wiping himself with the toilet paper* will be tempted to pick up other products with the logo as well. Or that's what it should be, anyway.
Incidentally, I was right that the color of the logo will change, depending on the other design features of the item it's on.
*Finally, a use for those old female Hawk/male Dove stories.
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