Business Report on

Stories behind famous logos

Managerial Communication-II Project
Under Prof. Anindya Chatterjee

By:
Gaurav Gupta - 64
Navdeep Sehrawat
- 77
Suyash Peepre 101
Biprojit
Choudhary61
Subrat Pradhan-97
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
S.No
1
2
3
4
5
6

Topic
Executive Summary
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Stories behind logos
Conclusion
Bibliography

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Page No.
3
4
5-6
7-11
12
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report aims to provide its readers understanding of how

corporates have come up with beautiful logos which are
inclined towards their businesses. Some carry a special
meaning about the business commitment or the uniqueness
about the company while the others are designed keeping in
mind the vision of the company. Yet some others have
improvised with time and have taken the opportunity to exploit
the hidden features of their corporate logos.
Another aspect of corporate logos is the meticulousness with
which they are designed in order to build the coherence with
corporate branding. Logos are an integral part of positioning
concept and thus by the very definition of it, a logo is meant to
signify the uniqueness.
In this report we have shared 20 corporate logo stories
touching the whos who of world as well some Indian
companies who have really innovated with their logo and at the
same time we also bring the readers some examples from the
Indian PSUs to contrast the line of thought of their organisation.
As a business owner, you are responsible for marketing your
business in a way that will increase your bottom line and
protect your future feasibility. Your business branding is
tantamount to your success, as it is what etches your product
or service into the minds of existing and potential customers
over the long haul. When it comes to branding, there is perhaps
no more important factor than your business logo. What is the
significance of a logo? Read on to find out.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to show our sincere gratitude to Professor

Anindya Chatterjee, Course Coordinator of Managerial
Communication-II at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade Kolkata for
giving us an excellent guideline for this report throughout
numerous consultations. He was instrumental in introducing us
to the methodology of this report and his inspiration for the
underlying structures of this report had lasting effect on us.

We would also like to expand our deepest gratitude to all those

who have directly or indirectly guided us in writing this report.
Many people, especially our batch mates and team members
itself, have made valuable comments and suggestions on this
proposal which gave us an inspiration to improve our report. We
thank all the people for their help directly and indirectly to
complete our report.
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INTRODUCTION

Why do we need a logo at all?

Studies show that people are more responsive to, and have a
much easier time remembering, images (as opposed to text).
Think of business logo as business name, niche, slogan, mission
statement, product/service, target market, and values distilled
down to their most direct and succinct form and then combined
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into a singular image. Therein lies the power a logo has to

speak for any business.

Whats in a logo?

When it comes to choosing a logo design, businesses face a

mighty task that takes considerable amount of research, time,
and mental energy. The idea of an effective logo is to pack a
punch in the simplest way possible, and every aspect of logo
image counts. In order to leave audience with the lasting
impression businesses intend, they must make the right
choices in regards to font, color, spacing, graphics, and text.

Your logo is uniquely yours.

As we are now familiar with the power and composition of a
business logo, it should be easy to see that the significance of
logo lies in the fact that it is completely unique to the business.
It is the fingerprint, per se, and the indelible image that any
business will leave on the minds of all who see it.

Who should your logo affect?

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A great logo design is one that

speaks directly to target market of the business. Think about it
this way: a logo for a beverage company targeted at youth is
not exactly going to be effective at earning more business if it
is most appealing to senior citizens. The logo has the ability to
draw attention from very specific segments of the population,
and a well-thought out and designed logo can literally attract
the people who are most likely to purchase the product or
service the business is offering.

1) Google

This redesign was mainly influenced by a trend in

technology companies to simplify their logos to make
them more recognisable on the growing number of
electronic devices which use their services.
With this redesign, a new typeface called Product Sans
was introduced as the font for the logo and to be used
Google Apps, a refresh of the green, yellow and red
colours used on the wordmark to better contrast each
other and a smaller image size change from 14,000 bytes
to 302 bytes to suite low bandwidth areas.
As with former logos, the "e" in the logo is slightly askew
(as emphasised by the nudge it's given in the Google
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Doodle and intro video) as a reminder that Google will

always be an unconventional company.

The new logo is also accompanied by a new favicon,

changed from a lowercase "g" to an uppercase "G"
sporting the colors of the main wordmark.

2) State Bank of India

This logo is open to several interpretations.

The big circular form of the emblem suggests unity and
completeness. The small circle in the centre connotes that
despite the banks size, it is the small man who holds the
centre of the bank.
The small circle and the vertical line with the blue
background suggests a keyhole the symbol of safety,
security and strength.
The white circle in the centre denotes a State Bank of
India Branch, the narrow line denotes narrow lanes of
towns and the cities. In other words, a State Bank branch
will be there to serve you, wherever you go.

3) Hindustan Unilever Limited

Their identity expresses Unilever's core values, with each

icon representing an aspect of the business.
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 Obviously the big blue U of their logo stands for Unilever.

But look a little closer and youll see theres much more to
it.
Their logo was designed to include 25 icons, each of which
represents something important to Unilever.
From a lock of hair symbolising our shampoo brands to a
spoon, an ice cream, a jar, a tea leaf, a hand and much
more, all icons have a meaning.

4) Coca Cola

When Coca-Cola discovered that part of its classic logo

looks like the Danish flag, the brand (or at least agency
McCann Copenhagen) decided to make an interactive
airport ad that dispenses flags.
Apparently it's a Danish tradition to greet arriving
travellers by waving flags, and Coke wanted to help make
a bigger show of the fact that passengers were arriving in
Denmark, ranked as "the happiest country in the world.
I personally doubt this hidden flag was a real "discovery"
on Coke's part so much as a forced connection, but it's a
nice gesture.

5) Amul

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 The Amul girl is a hand-drawn cartoon of a young Indian

girl dressed in a polka dotted frock with blue hair and a
half pony tied up.
The Amul girl advertising has often been described as one
of the best Indian Advertising concepts because of their
humour.
The Amul girl was created as a response to Amul's rival
brand Polson's butter-girl.
The mascot, since then, has been mobilized to comment
on many events of national and political importance
like Emergency in India in 1976.

6) VAIO

VAIO was originally a brand of Sony Corporation,

introduced in 1996.
Sony sold its PC business to the investment firm Japan
Industrial Partners in February 2014 as part of a
restructuring of the corporation to focus on mobile
devices.
The logo is not just a stylized brand name but refers to
turning analog waves into a digital form too.
The analog waves are represented in the V and A. I
and O on the other hand can also refer to 1 and 0, which
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are the two digits used in binary code, the digital.

7) Facebook Places

Facebook introduced a new feature called "Places" in mid2010, which allowed users to check in to bars, restaurants
and even geographical locations; "Places" posted a
message to a user's Wall specifying his location and, in
some cases, friends who accompanied him.
Considered to be a direct competitor of Foursquare, all you
have to do is take a closer look at the design. Especially
the rectangle meant to represent a map. The lines form a
number 4 signifying a direct hit on four square

8) Le Tour de France

The Tour de France is an annual multiple stage bicycle

race primarily held in France,while also occasionally
making passes through nearby countries.
The race was first organized in 1903 to increase paper
sales for the magazine L'Auto,it is currently run by the
Amaury Sport Organisation.
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 The name of the of the annual and vigorous biking

competition isnt the only feature in this logo.
Look closer at the letter R and the yellow circle next to it.
Youll be able to see a cyclist in racing postion. The yellow
circle can also represent the sun to signify that the race
takes place during day time.

9) Tata

The logo was created by a London based famous brand

consultancy firm Wolff Olins in 1998.
The Tata logo stands for fluidity and its blue color
represents prosperity, reliability and strength.
The symbol is also said to signify a fountain where
knowledge comes from, or such a tree under which shelter
is provided to people.

10) Fed Ex

The shipping company's logo is probably one of the bestknown in the world of "hidden image" logos.
For those who are unaware, take a look between the "E"
and the "X," where the negative space forms an arrow.
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 In an interview with Fast Company, the logo's designer,

Lindon Leader, said, "The arrow could connote forward
direction, speed and precision, and if it remained hidden,
there might be an element of surprise, that aha moment.
The design has won over 40 awards and was ranked as
one of the eight best logos in the last 35 years by Rolling
Stonemagazine.

CONCLUSION

So as was evinced from the report logos are the essence of a

company. Logos reflect the inner working, culture and ethos of
a company. In a way the logos represent the kind of businesses
companies are involved in.
Logos are not static and change with time as their respective
firms do. Many major companies like Coca Cola and HUL have
changed their logos as the companies evolved and modernized.
Some companies have changed their logos in accordance with
the local culture and environment they operate in.
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A recent example is that of Starbucks Coffee. The two tailed

topless mermaid has totally disappeared from the logo in
Starbucks cafes in Saudi Arabia respecting the local cultural
and religious sentiments.
When a company goes for a restructure and change in
businesses or core operations the first way it is reflected to
outside world is through their logos. Shells logo has changed
from a black and white shell as a logo to the coloured one as it
is in present form that reflected its expansion and
modernisation.
In short we conclude that logos are essentially the soul of a
company and are a reflection of the values of the company.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Significance of a business logo
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140730182200-134568772-what-is-thesignificance-of-a-business-logo

Logo Stories
http://www.lifebuzz.com/logos
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/logos-hidden-meaning
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http://wonderfulengineering.com/10-famous-logos-that-have-ahidden-meaning

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