Want to stand out from the crowd this year? Want to separate yourself from the competition?
Your logo is a great place to start!
Dressing up your logo for a special day that is in line with your business's values—or as Google calls —"Google Doodles" is a great way to differentiate your brand and visually show your company's personality.
While Google has been crafting their "Doodles" for almost a decade, they have successfully aligned their "Doodles" by supporting achievements, creativity, exploration and innovation through their well-known tech savvy brand.
Scotiabank took it one step further. In 2008 when they became proud supporters of inclusion in the workplace and the communities they serve—they altered the colours in their logo to reflect the rainbow flag—known as the Scotia Pride Logo. Along with marketing collateral, Scotiabank celebrates pride month every June by changing their normal logo to their Scotia Pride Logo to reflect their brand's values. View more about Scotiabanks, Proud to Support Inclusion here.
Another big one that's right around the corner—the ”Bell Let's Talk Logo. Not only has Bell been pioneers in shedding light on mental health across Canada, their company is known among Canadians as a driving force behind supporting mental health in the workplace. On Bell Let's Talk Day—Wednesday, January 31—Bell will donate towards mental health initiatives in Canada, by contributing 5¢ for every applicable text, call, tweet, social media video view and use of Bell's Facebook frame or Snapchat filter. This campaign has been assisted greatly by the toolkit that Bell offers on their website. They provide their dressed up logo for a variety of digital mediums to be shared among Canadians on their designated "Bell Let's Talk" Day. View their online toolkit here.
Scotiabank and Bell's campaigns that utilize their dressed up logos are brilliant, but also massive projects for a small to mid-sized company.
Instead of biting off more than you can chew, start small and build each year. Evaluate your company's mission and values. Search for different company events, holidays and national days throughout the year that align with your company's mission and values. Take advantage of these special occasions in even the simplest form, by dressing up your logo and updating your logo across all forms of digital media for a day, a week—or however long your event/holiday sees fit. Why not add fireworks around your logo for Canada Day? If your company is hosting a gala, add the dressed up logo to all of your employees email signatures and digital media beforehand to build excitement.
Whether you dress your logo up for one or 10 different occasions this year, I guarantee that it will add interest to your brand and help shed light on your businesses' personality and values in a light hearted way.
Marketing is supposed to be fun, why not start with your company's main visual identifier?