Corporate branding can be worth its weight in gold and certain images are absolutely iconic.  The Golden Arches, the Nike “swoosh,” and Apple’s Apple all come to mind.

Logo images give companies the means of offering a consistent brand image over time, and that  can be a very good thing.

Over time, tastes and styles change.  If your company presents itself as being on the bleeding edge of the technological curve, then your logo should almost certainly change with the times.  If you go back and look at Apple’s logo over the years, you’ll see that while it’s fundamentally the same, the company has made a few subtle modifications and adjustments over the years.

Changing your brand’s logo can be an expensive proposition so it’s not something you want to do at the drop of a hat. However, if you feel that it’s beginning to look a bit stale or dated, then there can be some real and tangible advantages to giving it an update. That is especially if you time the update with the release of a new product that offers tangible proof that your firm is headed off in some new and exciting direction.

The best brands tell a story and engage their customers.  Pictures are worth a thousand words, so branding images are  a big part of telling your brand’s story.  Ultimately then, the decision of if or whether to update your logo comes down to the following.

What kind of story do you want to tell your customers?  Do you want to offer them a tale of stability and rock-steady performance?  If so, then you’ll probably only want to update your logo rarely.  On the other hand, if you want to tell a story of momentum and velocity, the updating your logo more often would be a worthwhile endeavor.