An (arguably) softer logo? A small “name” change? The world’s largest public company, Wal-Mart, is looking for a fresh start, according to a report yesterday in the Wall Street Journal. In addition to a new orange and blue logo, the company appears to want folks to decapitalize the “m” and drop the dash: Walmart.
In recent years, Walmart redoubled its efforts to improve its image. It’s doubtful the new logo and slight name change will make a fundamental difference, but it may help. Walmart has been working hard to get the public to notice some of its green efforts. Maybe the facelift outside can convince folks to take another look inside?
Still, just when Walmart seems to start understanding public relations finesse, they remind us they really haven’t entirely figured everything out.
The rebranding effort by Walmart reminds me a bit of the process Kmart went through during its bankruptcy…
I was initially a little sad to see the red go, but I really came to appreciate the “lime green” Kmart logo, and the potential it offered for the company to really revitalize its stores. Unfortunately, Kmart eventually abandoned the prototype logo, stuck with red and blue, and has done little since to effectively get folks to take a second look.
Target is, undoubtedly, the chic marketing juggernaut in the discount retail store arena today. Walmart may not be able to snag that title, but if it can reduce the negative perceptions of itself somewhat, that would go a long way…
(If you haven’t seen Wall•E yet, go now. If you have, you already know this Walmart new logo is temporary, anyway. It is now inevitable that Walmart will eventually change their name to BnL, isn’t it?)