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The 10 Most Expensive Logo Designs and Rebranding
Campaigns of All Times… And A Few That Cost Surprisingly Little
Branding andlogo designare the most vital part of a company’s corporate
identity. A company’s logo should incorporate its essence, what it is and does.
It is a symbol, an idea, and a bundle of information. The importance of the
logo design has been recognized long ago and it has turned into an industry,
and some may even say an art form. Companies are willing to spend a lot of
effort and money in order to come up with a memorable logo that will
represent their business perfectly.

You will be surprised to find out how much money exactly some of the most
prominent companies in the world have paid for their logo design or
rebranding throughout the years. And maybe you will be even more surprised
when you see the big brand names that spent close to nothing for their logos.

Let’s first see the list of the top 10 most expensive logo designs and re-
branding campaigns of all times.
10. The Logo of the City of Belfast – Total Cost: $280,000

When the city of Belfast decided to change their logo in 2008, they spent the
staggering $280,000 for the new design. The logo is a heart-shaped B with
the name of the city written in it. The symbol of love was chosen for the design
in order to convey a message of love and show that the city of Belfast has left
its violent history in the past. According to the City Council, the B stands for
“be” as in “be welcome”, “be vibrant”, “be part of it”.

9. The Logo of the City of Melbourne – Total Cost: $625,000

Designed in 2009 by the Landor Associates, this logo was meant to support
Melbourne’s new corporate identity strategy. The price tags of this logo and
the next one on our list are the same, but we feel this one is a bit better than
the next one, thus providing better value for money. This has put it at the
9th place in our list.
8. The Logo of the 2012 London Olympics – Total Cost: $625,000

This logo was designed by a London based brand consultancy firm, Wolff
Olins in 2007. The company was widely criticized for this design with
comments about it being sloppy and unprofessional. Nevertheless, it cost
$625,000 and its fame, though not too favorable, puts it at the 8thplace among
the most expensive logo designs ever.
7. The New Logo of Pepsi – Total Cost: $1,000,000

We are now entering the big league – the logo designs and re-branding
campaigns that cost the companies who ordered them over a million dollars.
PepsiCo is one of the biggest soft drink manufacturers in the world and the
redesign of their logo in 2008 reportedly cost $1,000,000. However, some
people view this logo change as a failure and a lost battle in the infamous
Cola Wars, commenting that the Pepsi logo will never achieve the timeless
identity of the Coca-Cola logo.

6. The Rebranding Campaign of BBC – Total Cost: $1,800,000

 

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) had their logo redesigned in 1997
and the whole rebranding campaign cost the company the astonishing
$1,800,000. Being a global network, brand awareness is vital for BBC and that
was money well spent for them. The clear monochromatic logo is universally
recognized. If BBC still continues to use this logo in 2016, this will be the logo
with the longest life on screen (the 1971-1988 logo of BBC now holds this
record).

5. The Rebranding of ANZ – Total Cost: $15,000,000

The rebranding campaign of the Australian and New Zealand Banking Group
Ltd took two years, form 2010 till 2012, and cost 15 million dollars. However,
this sum included its whole new marketing strategy as well. Being the biggest
bank in New Zealand and the 3rd most popular one in Australia, adequate
branding is crucial for ANZ, so spending such big money on logo design and
rebranding was justified.
4. The Rebranding of Posten Norge – Total Cost: $55,000,000
Posten Norge is a company providing postal services in Norway. In 2008, the
company launched a massive rebranding campaign that cost 300 million
Norwegian kroner and included a whole new logo and marketing strategies.
The campaign successfully created positive brand awareness among the
users and clients of Posten Norge.

3. The Rebranding of Accenture – Total Cost: $100,000,000

Accenture is a multinational technology services, management consulting and

outsourcing company. In 2000, Andersen Consulting terminated their contract
with the Andersen accounting group and the consulting company was thus
forced to change its name. They replaced their signature name with
Accenture, which was meant to convey the message “accent on the future”.
However, this has been deemed one of the biggest rebranding failures of all
times – the new brand name was criticized for its lack of meaning.
Nevertheless, the rebranding cost an estimated 100 million dollars, which puts
it at number 3 in our list.

2. The Rebranding of BP – Total Cost: $211,000,000

In the year 2000, British Petroleum, known today as BP, replaced the strong
logo that they had used for over 70 years with the current “Helios” logo, which
cost a total of $211,000,000. The only element that was kept from the
previous logo was the green and yellow color scheme. The Helios logo was
meant to represent and symbolize BP’s strategy of green growth; however,
this has been deemed another rebranding failure as people widely
commented that there was nothing green about drilling for oil. The 2010 oil
spill disaster for which BP was responsible even gave birth to a Greenpeace
contest for mock logo design with the Helios turned into an oil spill.

1. The Rebranding of Symantec – Total Cost: $1,280,000,000

Symantec has gone down in history with its logo redesign and rebranding
campaign that cost the company over a billion dollars. We can’t say if such a
high cost was justified for a logo, but some see this as a rebranding failure, as
the company that was once a major enterprise firm is now struggling to
reposition itself on the market as a provider of mid-market solutions.

Now that we’ve seen how much money brands have been willing to spend on
logos and building brand awareness, let’s see the other side of the medal – a
few of the most famous companies in the world that spent nothing or close to
nothing for their logos.

The Nike Swoosh – Total Cost: $35

It may seem surprising that such an iconic and recognizable logo cost just
$35, but it is true. In 1971, the co-founder of Nike, Phil Knight bough the
Swoosh from Carolyn Davidson, agraphic designstudent at the Portland State
University, where Knight was teaching a class in accounting. When he bought
the logo, Knight commented, “I don’t love it, but maybe it will grow on me.”
Well, it has certainly grown on the Nike fans ever since then.
The Twitter Logo – Total Cost: $15

The rights to the famous blue bird logo were bought byTwitteron iStockphoto
for just $15. And the author of the logo, Simon Oxley might have received just
$6 for the job, after the fees. Although the Twitter logo has recently undergone
a makeover, it is still based on the iconic blue bird which cost the company
just spare change.
The Google Logo – Total Cost: $0

Despite the fact thatGoogle’s famous multicolored logo has undergone a

number of minor changes throughout the years the main concept has been
kept. The original logo was designed in 1998 by Sergei Brin, one of the co-
founders of Google. He used GIMP, a free graphics editing program.
Afterwards, a friend of Larry Page and Sergei Brin from Stanford, Ruth Kedar
worked on a few other prototypes of the logo. “I had no idea at the time that
Google would become as ubiquitous as it is today, or that their success would
be of such magnitude,” said Kedar in an interview in 2008.
The Microsoft Logo – Total Cost: $0

The logo of Microsoft was updated in 2012 and the current logo of the
technological giant cost the company no additional expenditure, as they used
their in-house team for the redesign. Although the new logo received mixed
reviews, with some thinking that Microsoft could have done way better in the
redesign, it is still a good logo that honors the heritage of the previous
Microsoft logos with the four color window.

The Coca-Cola Logo – Total Cost: $0

And finally, we’ll take a look at one of the greatest and most recognizable logo
designs of all time – the one of Coca-Cola. The iconic Coca-Cola logo was
created as far back as 1886, by Frank M. Robinson, the partner and
accountant of John S. Pemberton, the company’s founder. He also suggested
the name Coca-Cola, with the argument that the two capital Cs would appear
well in advertizing. Robinson experimented with Spencerian script and came
up with the unique logo of the brand. Though there have been minor changes
to the logo in certain periods, the classic design has remained almost intact
for almost 130 years. They say the best things in life are free; looks like that’s
true, or at least in the case of Coca-Cola.

 
 As you can see, a great logo can cost thousands of dollars, but even a price
tag of millions doesn’t guarantee that a logo will be good or adequate. And
sometimes, logos that cost negligible amounts of money or are even free can
go down in history with their iconic brand messages.
Published by

Nir Appelton
I am an experienced entrepreneur, with background in e-commerce ( I have a
big e-commerce website that sells fashion accesories) and I've been
developing websites for a while. I know all trends in the ecommerce
environment and I can help you plan and evolve your online business View all
posts by Nir Appelton
Posted on March 21, 2014October 4, 2017Author Nir
AppeltonCategories Web Design Tips
 

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