Best Buy is tired of their logo, so they’re testing a new one on those local guinea pigs at the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. (Best Buy is headquartered in Minnesota, land of lutefisk, Garrison Keillor and Target.)
AdFreak reports:
“Our intent is to get learning in an open way, not necessarily to ‘roll out’ anything in that store,” Best Buy CMO Barry Judge writes on his blog. “I need to emphasize that we have not decided to iterate our logo.”
The font is apparently modified from something called Klavika.
What do you think? Better than the gigantic yellow price tag? Will this give Best Buy a fresh new image? Or is this the same annoying ex-girlfriend with a new haircut?
In case you’re wondering what it looks like in action, you can find photos of the Mall of America store here, here and here.
Best Buy’s New Tag [Brand New]
Best Buy tests new logo at Mall of America [AdFreak]
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Is that supposed to be ironically bland, or something?
@Citron:
I think it’s supposed to be ‘sleek’.
I don’t love it but I don’t hate it either. A radical logo change was around the corner eventually. They’re still using the big yellow tag, though it’s less obnoxious-looking than the old big yellow tag…
Frankly they need to try again with that one, but it’s not awful.
Yes I shop at best buy, it’s a guilty “I want it now!” pleasure.
@Paintbait: I’d have to characterize it as aenemic. Look at that boring sans-serif font.
I agree that they were probably due for a new logo, but this one reminds me of Expedia’s for some reason.
Meh.
@Citron: Yeah, font’s too skinny on the new one.
@Citron: Have you ever been to MN?
I think Ironically Bland is our state motto
@Citron: I was reading about this in Neutral Corporate Typefaces Monthly. Focus groups found the new logo 51% more average than the old logo, on average.
@lpranal: If that isn’t a “comment of the week” I don’t know what is
@-emory-: seconded
@Citron: Reminds me of UPS or some other shipping company. There is nothing distinctive about it.
The new logo seems to be in line with contemporary corporate thinking of making logos that mean nothing, evoke nothing and are completely bland and innocuous. Even Wal-Mart recently followed suit with this.
Why or how the new logo is better or worse than the other one will be completely the province of executives who actually have the time to ponder such things.
Pity them.
@twophrasebark: Really? I thought Wal-Mart went from unnoticeable (plain bold blue font) to noticeable (more distinct color, font, and a little flower at the end for kicks).
@queenlizzie: What does the flower mean?
@twophrasebark: I like the Vonnegut theory: [consumerist.com]
That price tag is tilting much more optomistically! I’m convinced!
@The Lunesta Portion Control Intern: I think it looks sad, as if it knows that it’s just a shell of its former self. Which pretty much sums up Best Buy, anyway.
@dorianh49: No, don’t you see? The old one is sagging, a bleek reminder of a downtrodden economy. The new look is facing upwards, looking forward to a time of prosperity and, uh… positive… things…
/spin artistry can only go so far
@The Lunesta Portion Control Intern: I guess I see the pointy part of the tag as the nose, and the new logo looks blue, hollow, and pitiful. It also kind of looks like a dog sniffing the “y”‘s butt.
@dorianh49: I’m actually wondering if the blue was to inspire consumers to think it is higher quality than it really is. Yellow has connotations with “cheap” and “junk” which I’m sure they were not thrilled about.
It never fails to amaze me when comapnies change logos. The cost alone make me wonder if it will ever be worth it. Unless you are taken over, or switch to a new name, switching your logo usually doesn’t do anything to impact peoples buying decision, IMHO. It just seems like a big waste of money to hire a graphics designer, have them design the logo, go through the process of testing it out, then getting a final design approved. You then have to rip down all of your old signs eventually, change the logos on gift cards, fliers, uniforms, etc… To me, I always picture some Fung Shui/new agey person just pulling stuff out of their butts about what a new logo will do to increase the energy flow into the buildings, which will increase sales, and stupid idiots gobbling it up, while the smart con-artist cashes a check. /rant.
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy–>: Sometimes changing the corporate identity does help, or may be a placebo effect to enable corporate to get kick in the ass. This coming from a graphic designer, so I do have some bias, but, I have done some re-works of some logos, and they appreciated it
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy–>: It is usually done when the current logo looks dated.
Some ad guru must have decided that spiffing up your image is the thing to do with the economy hurling up its lunch. I have noticed a number of companies redesigning their websites or logos recently. At least the graphic designers will still have jobs this time around.
I approve! Approve to shop anywhere other than best buy!
@Elijah86:
Best Buy is the only store I’ve ever gone to that refused to sell me an item… that they had for sale. I tried to buy a TV stand from their Reston, VA store this past August. I found the one I wanted, waited for somebody to help me. About 30 minutes go by before I can get somebody to assist me (only reason I waited is because I REALLY liked the stand). He tells me he can’t sell it to me because “the guy” who sells them is gone for the day and would “probably” be back tomorrow. Nobody else in the store can apparently sell this stand. A stand that’s on a shelf in the AV department. Apparently, there is one guy and one guy only who can help me, and he left early.
Go back the next day, and… yeah. Guess who’s not there, and guess what they still can’t sell me?
@Preyfar: I can’t believe you actually went back.
@ophmarketing:
I live in walking distance of a Best Buy. So, it wasn’t exactly much effort on my part. And it WAS a nice TV stand.
Ultimately, I ended up buying a cheap stand from Target that was fairly nice, and about 1/4th the price.
hey i live in MN too!
Meh they change it because if you look at every company over 50 years old, theirs looks hella bad too. (cough) GM (cough cough)
that and a multimillion $$ company can afford 50k for a newer logo, i kind alike it but the old one looks fine too. I think they are trying to go the Walmart route
@Echomatrix:
I’m sure that logo cost a million or more.
@Echomatrix: 50k? Are you kidding? Every store. Every billboard. Every advertisement. Every presentation, powerpoint, business content. Business cards. Shopping bags. Shopping carts. In-store signs. Company stationary. Delivery vehicles. Distribution centers. They would be lucky if it cost less than 10 million.
@Echomatrix: $50k is far, far from the truth. I was with UPS when they rebranded and the pricetag they quoted for the project was SEVENTY MILLION.
I can also tell you that employees generally dislike rebranding. It not only forces them to try and keep up with a largely unnecessary change, it also pisses them off, because odds are they are being paid less than they should be, and the company is effectively rubbing their noses in this huge pile of “extra” money rather than using a very small portion of the same amount to compensate their workers properly.
My first thought seeing the logo? “Well, at least it wasn’t an anus…” After seeing Walmart’s new logo, I guess I’ve come to expect the worst from the giant boxmarts.
And a new logo won’t change my opinion of “Best Buy”. Their prices, customer service, selection and attitude towards the consumer won’t be fixed with a logo.
It looks like a business card.
I don’t love it… but I don’t hate it either.
Overall, I’m just ehh about it. With the economy going down the tank, don’t you think that money could have been better spent, Best Buy?
It is very reminiscent of the BlockBuster logo. I don’t think I’d want to blend my brand with that loser.
i think the poll needs a ‘yes, but…’ option. i think it looks better, but best buy still sucks.
douglas the guinea pig isnt in MN, but he does not approve!
Lipstick on a pig, if you ask me.
Are they gonna change the shape of the price tags too?
They’re still best buy. A new logo won’t change my opinion of them.
I think that is because people don’t understand the role that branding plays in their own shopping habits. Ever get the feeling that you didn’t want to be in a store because it was just icky, somehow? Like you wouldn’t want friends to see you there? (That’s the feeling I get in Wal-Mart).
Anyway, stores do everything they can to be as far away from producing that effect in its shoppers. Consumers don’t even know it is operating, but it is operative – the whole feeling/experience of shopping phenomenon.
The Best Buy logo IS old. It’s style comes from an exuberant period both with respect to shopping/spending and story styling. Stores were wrapped in this tag-styled logo. Soon, I think that will begin to look obnoxious to shoppers.
The new logo looks conservative.
None of this matters to me, of course, because I only shop there when I don’t have the patience to shop online or somewhere else with lower prices. They are to me a convenience store for electronics and software.
“Iterate our logo”? WTF happened to “change”?
@ryatziv: Makes the marketeer think he sounds smarter.
Clearly the logo is what was wrong with best buy. Now that they’ve changed that we can all start shopping there because its a new and improved best buy.
@Bourque77: Heck, the logo is the best thing about Best Buy!
Reminds me of the new Walmart logo..very boring. How about improving customer service then changing the logo?
@parad0x360: I thought the same thing…some j-hole in marketing saw the new wally world logo and figured no one would be smart enough to make the connection.
I don’t know… for some reason it makes me think of discount store…
Almost like it’s going to start carrying low quality items.
It looks like Wal-Mart.
@idip: My conspiricy theory sense is tingling!
Seems like a waste of money, just like buying stuff there.
I will never understand why companies spend years developing brand recognition, just to throw it away. Seriously, what would have happened if Chanel threw away the double C’s?
Before you disclaim my opinion, I don’t work for Best Buy and I don’t really care much about the logo, but if you look at it in a more deeper sense, it looks warm and inviting. Considering that BB is trying to attract non-traditional audiences (read: women) to its stores, it kind of makes sense. Also, many other companies have moved or are moving towards a more simplified, clean logo to represent their company.
I wonder how many of you would look at Apple the same way today if they still kept the “rainbow” apple logo and the Times News Roman-esque font and think of it as lame and outdated. (despite many Apple purists lamenting it’s demise).
@ronaldhennessy: But the identifying part of Apple’s logo wasn’t the color, but the shape. If you made apple’s logo black and asked someone to identify it, people still could. I doubt the same could be said about the yellow price tag. The identifying features are both the shape and the bright yellow color. If they changed the font, people would still be able to identify it. But if you took the text off of logo number 2, I doubt anyone would identify that as being Best Buy. They’re throwing away the brand recognition that they built up, which doesn’t make it a great move in my opinion.
As a female, the new logo doesn’t suddenly make me go “Ooh, that’s friendly electronics store.” They’d be better off spending the money on customer service training for their employees and promoting the things that non-technofiles might buy (CD’s/DVD’s, games, and home appliances) rather than things like $10k tv’s, home audio systems, or computers.
For instance, while I’m aware that Best Buy sells home appliances, the first home appliance location I think of is Conn’s. Video stores are a likely first thought for DVD’s even though Best Buy may be cheaper.
The new logo looks too ‘web 2.0′, which is already a dated look.
It looks a LOT like the new Walmart logo…
@dwarf74: That yellow outline of a Best Buy tag looks a little bit phallic… could it be aiming at the WalMart butt hole symbol?
What a horrible, horrible idea. My five year old daughter who cannot read recognizes and says “Best Buy” every time she sees this easily distinguishable logo. Why would they want to change it?
It’s using the PlayStation font, just a little boldier. It’s even got the compounded capitals. At least it’s the old PlayStation font, not the dumb as balls Spiderman font they used on the PLAYSTATION 3. I’m still waiting for someone to release a good replacement case without that damned trainwreck of a logo on it.
I noticed this yesterday while at the Mall of America, it’s funny because I thought to myself, “Is there even a Best Buy in the mall?” I know there didn’t used to be. Turns out it’s Best Buy “mobile”, whatever that is. I didn’t feel like walking a mile to investigate.
I remember learning from training while working for Marshall Fields (previously owned by Target, then taken over and turned into Macy’s) about the emphasis they placed on company logos, with an emphasis on color recognition. The idea was that whenever you thought of the color green, you would think Marshall Fields, red Target, and yellow Best Buy. It seems Best buy is trying to take over blue now, which would coincide with the rest of there schwag.
The old one was starting to date itself a good bit. Walmart needed its modernization at that time as well. The Best Buy text was thick, chunky, and way out of style. I’m glad they kept the yellow, as it is iconic in terms of its branding and identifiability.
They should have a logo depicting a scene with a guy in a Best Buy uniform holding the customer’s money and laughing while a sad customer walks away.
If they get rid of the old logo, does it mean that it is up for grabs? Could other companies snag it for themselves?
The same annoying ex-girlfriend with a new haircut, horrible taste in clothing, and completely unadventurous in bed.
Honestly, I’m not thinking this is going to make Best Buy suck any less, but taken entirely out of context the blue logo is definitely more soothing than the neon yellow up in your eyes.
The new logo reminds me of buy.com for some reason……….that’s not a good thing.
It reminded me of the National Geographic Channel’s call sign: [upload.wikimedia.org]
I’d vote the last option, but I like the new logo much more than the old one.
I wouldn’t buy again from Worst Buy if they had everything on sale for one penny (US)! This company sucks! Got that! They suck. The “Geeks” are worse than dismal, they are 1st grade wanna bees. I’ve been trying to get my dismal experiences posted here, but the interns seem to be not interested. Worst Buy has a long way to go to clamber their way up the ladder to the heights of Target! Got that!?
I’m just going to say two things:
1: I like the new logo.
2: Am I the only one who has good experiences shopping at Best Buy stores?
looks closer to the 21st century, but still unspuprisingly bland. maybe because “best” was a word that my 3rd grade class buried for use of more “colorful” words.
you can’t polish a turd.
Old = Yellow Tag & “Best Buy”
New = Yellow Tag & “Best Buy”
wtf..?
I like the logo. Although I’m not clear exactly what a logo refresh will do in terms of driving revenue, creatively it’s nice to see a company change it’s look every once in awhile. If anything, the change might help to increase the salience of the brand in the short-term, but beyond that *shrug*
First and foremost, the logo is the least of Best Buy’s problems. Second, the new logo typifies the essence of bad design; it doesn’t stand out and does a worse job of communicating the brand than the original. In short, it’s a meek librarian whispering at you from across the room instead of a hot pop star singing in your ear.
Consumerism at its best: brand logo discussion.
They could have released a test logo of a Best Buy branded dog shitting on a baby. No matter if the effect is positive or negative, Best Buy wins either way.
Reminds me of the newish Wal-Mart logo…
I was at the Mall of America a few weeks ago and noticed this new “theme” in their store there. They put the logo on the big sign outside, but the color scheme carries through the whole store. It actually made me tell my partner about their store where they cater to women, and I joked that this store was the *opposite* of that. It seemed very masculine, cold, unfriendly. If I remember right, they also had wood floors through the store, which seemed really Wal-Mart-esque. Our Wal-Mart did that in their clothing department a few years ago, as if wood-like flooring would make the clothing magically appear more expensive or American-made… when it clearly is not.
Conservative AND Bland with a twist. That’s the decade we live in, according to all the corporations out there.
The logo makes me want to take a nap. Best Buy is desperately trying to rebrand itself now that people are not buying crap at a breakneck pace.
They have burned too many bridges to recover though. Too many people have sworn them off after bad experiences.
That new one isn’t good, it’s boring. Same with the new Wal-Mart one. Why change something that doesn’t need changing?
Whoopee Shitzky.
I guess I am the only person here that does not hate Best Buy. Sure they might not have the best deals all the time but I go to shop the deals there. I always have had no problem with them price matching stuff and finding the sale items I need there.
I find it MUCH better than having to go to Circuit City. I try to avoid them as much as I can because the one we have near to me is terrible. They never seem to have the stuff they have on sale in the ad out or they sold out of them early or something. It is also very messy there they don’t have there games ever in a logical manner whatsoever. The only reason I go there is because they tend to have good deals and when they do I do in store pickup to not have to deal with much there in and out.