What we can learn from Toys R Us
I got this year’s big Toys R Us catalog in my newspaper last week and I immediately noticed something different… Their logo. Many in the design community have taken notice and weighed in on the new look. But you don’t need me to tell you that it looks great and that it’s a really nice change over the old version with the big star and the goofy quotes around the backwards “R” that I never really liked.
But I will tell you what they DIDN’T do:
- They didn’t change their colors; I think the green and blue may have both gone a shade or two lighter, but no one except us strange design-folk would ever really notice that.
- They didn’t change the shapes of their letters. The backwards “R” now has a star in the middle, but otherwise the letters are exactly the same as they were 30 years ago.
- They didn’t change the orientation of the logo or introduce a new icon or element.
All they did was make a few 2007 tweaks to an identity that has barely changed in decades. After all, when something has been around as long as Toys R Us, it’s only natural that certain things start looking dated after a period of time. So every now and then, they “freshen” it up. Add a star, get rid of the star, adjust a color or two, get rid of those multi-colored facades and brown roofs that we remember from the ’80s…
This strategy isn’t unique to Toys R Us though… Remember how Delta changed their logo earlier this year. Remember how Apple took the rainbow stripes out of their famous icon late in the ’90s. Look at the sleek new version of Intel’s logo that is strikingly similar to the old one. Look around and you’ll notice subtle but important changes in most of the brands you buy at the mall or use in your home.
So what can we learn from Toys R Us and other brands that have stood the test of time? That when our businesses start looking a little dated, we don’t need to just sit back and live with it… And we don’t necessarily need to wipe the slate clean and build something from scratch. That’s a scary proposition for any business, especially a small business.
But it’s a very low-risk proposition for you as a business-owner to take your logo to a good design firm and say, “I like my logo. It’s represented my business well for 10 years and my customers know it. Can you show me some ideas on how I can contemporize it a little?” It shouldn’t be an expensive project… We charge $300 for logo design and unless you go to a big agency (way more expensive) or an inexperienced freelancer (a bit less expensive) you should expect to pay somewhere in that ballpark.
So for just a few hundred dollars every five years or so, your small business brand can evolve over time just like Toys R Us’. Then your business will always look contemporary, dynamic and relevant and never look old or dated. It’s a cheap and effective trick taken out of the big-business playbook that small businesses can use to make themselves look bigger and more savvy and “in-touch” than their competition.
Posted by E. Wolf
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