Xerox announced the company’s new branding recently. Their marketing efforts really wanted to avoid connotations of the company being just copiers. Xerox doesn’t even make stand-alone copiers anymore and the branding efforts really reinforce their efforts to producing more advanced solutions like software or consulting.

(New 2008 Logo)

Xerox’s new branding and materials really highlight the new design aesthetic of today. They slowly went from a serif uppercase to a sans lowercase during the years and this smooth, casual font treatment is very casual. A look at their web site reveals a new sense of design as well, and although it may be a huge step up in aesthetic and usability from previous versions, to me the web site feels clunky - but it’s colorful, so that’s OK. That vivid red has stayed because of strong connotations, especially overseas, towards “good will” and “prosperity”. You can tell they upped the saturation to appear more vivid for back-lighting (television, monitors, etc) though, that red really became a lot more bold.

(Old Xerox Logo)

The newest change is the presence of a spherical icon with the letter X wrapped around it. They really wanted something you could use well in all types of media and be able to compete with other colorful, three dimensional logos its competitors have. Maryann J. Stump, senior director of brand strategy for Interbrand, the consulted branding unit used by Xerox, said “And you can do animation with a symbol that you just can’t do with a word-mark.”

(Old Xerox Logo)

Announced on Monday (7th January 2008), Xerox plans to start with new campaigns this year but says that it will take some time before all of their branding is transformed to the new logo.

(Old Xerox Logo)

There’s an obvious quarrel between outside experts on this branding change as some say it’s money well spent while others think this is money poorly used. The biggest argument is that a new logo cannot possibly change the “Xerox makes copiers” connotation without a complete company evolution. I agree with that argument, but I say to wait a couple of years to see if they are able to evolve that. Branding, especially with a company that has a long history and an already established business culture, really can’t be successful unless it’s a universal change. If your brand is about customer service, then you better spend big bucks to overhaul your customer service system. If your brand is about innovation, you better spend big bucks making sure you’re always on top of the game. Your brand really has to resonate throughout your company, inside and out, in every employee and customer.

I see the web site’s main section is titled “printers, copiers, office supplies…” and I think maybe some of those skeptics are right, they’re wasting big money on a new face without changing the heart of the company. If Xerox thinks the main portion of their site is copiers, then how do they expect people to stop thinking about copiers? But Interbrand is a very successful company with a long history of successful brands like BMW, eBay, AT&T, IBM and Samsung. Surely they will surprise the critics over the long run.

(Old Xerox Logo without color)

Let’s see what happens over the next couple of years Xerox, all the best!

Read the New York Times Xerox branding article
Read the portfolio item on the Interbrand web site

(This is a logo of an organization, item, or event, and is protected by copyright and/or trademark. It is believed that the use of this may qualify as fair use under United State copyright law. Any other use of this logo may infringe on copyright law. Credits to images goto Wikipedia.com, NYTimes.com, Logotypes.ru and Interbrand.com)