

The Cost of a Logo - damian2000
http://www.huhmagazine.co.uk/view_article.php?id=4140&s=art&t=design

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mikeryan
Please note this mixes up the cost of a logo with the cost of a rebranding
effort.

Creating the logo is only one very small piece of a rebrand.

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cschmidt
Right, I'm sure the BP rebrand included new expensive signs at all of their
gas stations. I isn't like the logo design walked off with hundreds of
millions.

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ender7
The designer does the rebranding, not the customer. This means generating all
the new style guides, promotional material templates, business cards, even
sometimes ad templates.

All of that derives from the logo/wordmark, but it's usually the majority of
the work.

~~~
_delirium
In the case of BP's rebranding, the numbers quoted here seem to be mainly BP-
side spending, such as replacing signage on facilities and repainting
vehicles: [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1350238/BP-
attacked-o...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1350238/BP-attacked-
over-136m-logo-as-petrol-prices-soar.html)

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chris_wot
It's interesting that the London Olympics logo is so embarrassing. The UK
government have form, as the old Office of Goverment Commerce found to their
chagrin. Their logo was even more naughty when rotated 90 degrees, and its
logo was literally just the text OGC in a very elegant font. They paid £14,000
for it.

In fact, it's an awesome logo, if not for the unfortunate letter formation...

[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1901656/OGC-unveils-new-
logo...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1901656/OGC-unveils-new-logo-to-red-
faces.html)

For the image...

[http://www.google.com.au/search?tbm=isch&source=mog&...](http://www.google.com.au/search?tbm=isch&source=mog&hl=en-
GB&gl=au&client=safari&tab=wi&q=ogc%20logo%20fail&sa=N&biw=320&bih=416#i=1)

~~~
chris_wot
Hmmm... second link not working!

Try:

[http://www.chewdesign.co.uk/wp-content/gallery/latest/ogc-
lo...](http://www.chewdesign.co.uk/wp-content/gallery/latest/ogc-logo.jpg)

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chrislomax
There is a direct correlation between the size of a company and the cost they
pay for a logo, if twitter gave a marketing company the power to rebrand their
logo now it would cost thousands.

There is a certain amount of responsibility in rebranding a large company and
the myriad of brand documentation that goes with it.

It's funny how a startup only really cares about the logo looking nice but
once they get big then it goes into the brand position and how that brand
speaks to people.

I find it really interesting all this, I work for a company that specialises
in branding (I work on the web side mind) but I know how much work companies
are doing for the 400k price tags

~~~
rmk2
> but I know how much work companies are doing for the 400k price tags

I absolutely agree, by far the biggest portion of most redesigns isn't so much
"just" the logo, it's changing the whole corporate design that is attached.
Letterheads, website, slide design, business cards etc. etc. etc.

That is obviously only the case if you already have an established brand and
established corporate culture. The small startup with just a handful of people
doesn't have to worry to much (since not much is in place), but if you need to
("retroactively") change the specs for thousands of workers, subsidiaries etc,
that quickly ramps up the price and the amount of work needed.

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jere
>To fix this, Lambie-Nairn simply straightened up the boxes, removed the
dashes, and changed the font to Gill Sans - _a typeface which had been
invented 60 years ago, meaning there were no worries of it quickly looking
outdated._

A really clever design principle. I've always thought it was most effectively
used in film (e.g. Gattaca).

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jacobr
Shameless ripoff of [http://stocklogos.com/topic/famous-logo-designs-and-how-
much...](http://stocklogos.com/topic/famous-logo-designs-and-how-much-did-
they-cost) posted 1 month ago

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mtoddh
Wow, $100 million USD for the Accenture logo is baffling to me. I'm guessing
there must be more being delivered behind the scenes that just the image.
Anyone with experience in this area care to elaborate on how they come up with
these prices?

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citricsquid
They didn't pay $100m for a "logo", they paid for brand identity, marketing,
they paid for their entire image to be changed. Same with BP.

~~~
damian2000
Physical changeover of signage at all sites with the logo is another big cost.
It usually must all be done at around the same time which often means higher
after hours costs. For BP, this means all of their petrol stations.

~~~
larrys
Not to mention letterheads, business cards, envelopes, labels, internal paper
forms. Both the sign and the printing industry benefit when a company
rebrands.

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juddlyon
The cost of a logo: $0

The cost of endless iterations, navigation of bureaucracy, corporate politics,
egos, lack of respect for your field, phasing out the old stuff,
documentation, pricing according to what the company can pay, etc.: what the
market will bear

BP can afford $211K. In 2011 they averaged $70 million in revenue per day.

~~~
joonap
Please note that the amount was $211 million

~~~
chris_wot
About 3 days of revenue... Not bad!

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wallflower
For context, more Olympic logos.

My favorites are Grenoble, 1968 and Nagano, 1998 and Cortina d’Ampezzo, 1956.

[http://www.digitalhorticulture.com/a-history-of-olympic-
logo...](http://www.digitalhorticulture.com/a-history-of-olympic-logos-from-
london-2012-to-london-1948/)

~~~
chris_wot
I have to say that apart from the current London logo, these are all amazing!
They each capture the mood and place of the games at that time... I can't
believe that so many countries got their logos so consistently right for one
event!

One dud amongst many is remarkable...

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andy_herbert
Some of these examples are redesigns so it makes the actual cost extremely
difficult, or impossible to quantify.

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AndrewKemendo
Incidentally PepsiCo released an interesting PDF document which revealed their
redesign "process."

[http://bunnitude.com/misc/files/pepsi_gravitational_field.pd...](http://bunnitude.com/misc/files/pepsi_gravitational_field.pdf)

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ctdonath
FWIW: <http://www.50dollarlogo.com/>

~~~
jmitcheson
Don't use this website. It's a scam.

[http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/50dollarlogocom-c1...](http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/50dollarlogocom-c137424.html)
[http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080324152924AA...](http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080324152924AAuYUiK)

Plus my own experience.

If you want to pay $50 for a logo, google "Stock logos". If you want an actual
good logo, 99 designs has a logo section (they start at like $300).

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hcarvalhoalves
The conclusion I draw from this list: boring companies spend money on
rebranding efforts to change their image; good companies give meaning and
value to their logos by themselves.

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rickdale
Just spent $600 on a logo at 99 designs.com. I ended up receiving over 300
submissions. No rebranding necessary seems like $500-1000 is a good price for
a graphic.

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propercoil
it's price anchoring based on the size of the company or how many cash they
have - more money more bucks spent on logo and nothing more

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freakball
The Fat Man with a red shirt and blue pants...

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ktizo
Was interested to learn about Nike actually doing the right thing by their
logo designer when they made some money. Which doesn't excuse their
manufacturing history.

