Logo Redesign and Brand Commitment

What it is

This is the finding that customers with different levels of commitment to a brand react differently to a changed logo. Michael Walsh, Karen Winterich and Vikas Mittal report a field experiment with 632 respondents in which strongly committed consumers evaluated a shift from an angular logo toward a rounder one negatively, lowering brand attitude, while weakly committed consumers reacted positively.

In effect

The authors advise firms changing brand elements to watch the reactions of their most committed customers. The Why We Project uses the finding in its article on branding agencies in Dubai, where it supports guarding an identity as many hands use it and judging when a change is wise.

What it does not say

The finding comes from the study named on this page and describes a pattern in that sample. It does not show that the pattern holds for every person, product or market, and it does not tell a brand what to do on its own. It is one input to a decision, to be weighed with other evidence.

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