| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this thesis is to explore a new trend revolving around the use of temporary logos as marketing tools to communicate with customers. Until now, to the best of the author’s knowledge, brand logos have never been studied in this context. Literature only addressed permanent logo changes and did not differentiate between other types of changes. This paper is meant to tap into this research gap and bridge it by conducting an exploratory, qualitative study. The goal is to answer the research question: What are temporary logo changes and how can businesses use them effectively?
For this purpose, the researcher conducted 14 semi-structured interviews with respondents from all over the world to gain a deep insight into this newly emerging form of marketing communication. In those interviews, 5 distinct marketing campaigns have been discussed. These campaigns have been selected after careful evaluation of campaigns’ success, goals, and industry, as well as presumed relevance, familiarity, and popularity of the brand for the respondents based on nationality. The goal was to gain maximum diversity in answers.
The findings of this research tap into various aspects of branding. Firstly, the author was able to define temporary logo changes as content and/or style changes of a brand logo for an intentionally limited period of time for a specific marketing campaign. Secondly, based on the insights gained from the interviews, it was possible to extract the most important factors that affected the evaluation of the temporary logo: 1) familiarity with the brand, 2) the purpose for which the campaign was created and the logo was designed, 3) the fit with other marketing communication and the current brand image, and 4) the perception of scarcity in terms of a limited-edition. Finally, the researcher discovered that temporary logos were used for two types of campaigns in this study: ‘Brand Image Extension Campaigns’ and ‘Brand Image Focus Campaigns’. The former tries to extend the current brand image by communicating a specific, purpose-driven idea about a brand, such as the brand’s commitment to sustainability. The goal is to add new associations to the current brand image or strengthen weak associations that have not been actively considered yet by the public. The later focuses the current brand image by highlighting certain associations that customers are already aware of and further developing relationships with them. The goal is to reinforce the aspects of the brand image that the brand wants to be associated with and make customers more aware of those.
Keywords: Brand Logos, Temporary Logo Changes, Brand Image, Integrated Marketing Communication, Campaigns | en_US |
