Consumers are more likely to recall a brand’s colours than specific shapes and elements in their logos, a new study has found.
Research by signs.com looked into how accurately people in the US can recall the brand logos they are regularly exposed to.
Interestingly, almost one in three people were able to produce a very accurate representation of the Ikea logo from memory.
Target’s logo also proved to be memorable, with one in four people producing a near-perfect drawing of the image.
By contrast, only six per cent could do the same with the Starbucks logo, despite its ubiquity on high streets around the globe.
Foot Locker’s logo also proved to be difficult to recall, as just eight per cent could recreate it accurately themselves.
However, about 80 per cent of participants correctly chose the right palettes for their drawings, indicating that this could be the most memorable element of a brand logo overall.
The study also threw up a few other interesting findings. For instance, more than one in five participants incorrectly featured a crown on their depiction of Burger King’s logo.
This suggests that previous iterations of a company logo can stay in the memory longer after they fall out of use.
Another notable finding was a third of people adding a stalk to their depictions of Apple’s logo, despite the fact this doesn’t actually appear on the real image.
Commenting on the results, the company said: “These ubiquitous emblems largely exist as fuzzy visions in our mind’s eye. One in five people thinks the Foot Locker referee wears a hat (he doesn’t), and nearly half of people believe the Starbucks mermaid does not wear a crown (she does). That only scratches the surface of what our study found out.”
How Hard Is It to Draw a Brand Logo From Memory? Much, Much Harder Than You Thought, AdWeek
