When your brand has such a negative stigma, it can't hurt to change the logo.
If a company is truly trying to change their image, they should take some risks. It would be risky to not change every aspect of their new branding effort. If the brand loyal consumers are truly loyal, they will stick to the brand no matter what font type they use.
Walmart recently just changed their logo from a boxy font to a more feminine looking one. They are also changing the color of the font from a harsh blue to a soft blue. When The Martin Agency gained the Walmart account, they added an emotional aspect to the brand over a purely economical approach. They also did away with the dark blue spiky star in the logo. They replaced this with a soft yellow cheerful sun. Does this now mean that Walmart will make your day more cheerful because you saved a few bucks on your family?
If you could actually feel and touch the new logos, would you rather touch the spiky dark blue star or the soft yellow cheerful sun? Maybe this will pull in some new customers to the store after all. After a few months of this logo transformation it will be interesting to see if their sales and perception increase. The next step is for Microsoft Word to update their spell check option from Wal-Mart to Walmart.
