Phone Book Goes Digital, Retains "Yellow Pages" Brand Name

Recently, I got involved in an online discussion with some other branding-obsessed bloggers about another logo change--Yellow Pages.  The full story and comment sequence can be read here.

My comment on the article was the following:
The biggest question for Yellow Pages is not really what their logo will look like or whether they change the brand name (I like the idea of just using the name "Yellow"). For me, the biggest issue is how the brand will maintain a relevant offering to consumers. Every time the phone books arrive, I joke with my wife about WHY we need them, with internet at our fingertips on at least five devices in our home. But then, invariably, I will use the Yellow Pages a few times a year, when I'm looking for a "category", not for a specific company.



The Yellow Pages competitive advantage was their sales force that knows individual business geographies intimately, so their categorical listings are pretty complete. Google is so huge and it doesn't know the individual neighborhoods, it just crawls all the web entries that have certain keywords or zip codes. So frequently a Google search for restaurants in my zip code will exclude establishments that don't use the word "restaurant" in their title or description.


My recommendation to Yellow Pages: acquire Angie's List or another similar services rating site, so they can offer localized service listings and ratings. Google will likely win the battle over searchable answers, but there is still room in the online space for answers to questions like "who is a good, honest plumber who lives near me?"

[The idea I proposed of shortening Yellow Pages to "Yellow" was picked up by one of the consultants who also commented on the article. You can read his extended article on his blog.]

Don't Let a Logo Change Sour Your Brand

One of my long-time comfort brands is Dannon.  It's also just the best yogurt I can find in a store (can't you just visualize the way your spoon cuts into the first bite?).  And unlike Yoplait or the store brands, Dannon is never sickly sweet.  As a kid, there was something exciting about the fruit at the bottom--it was like a discovery each time, digging for buried treasure. And, yes, I have always felt this dramatic about food.

In my concerns over sugar intake, I've cut down on the sugar-added yogurts and started buying Dannon Plain Yogurt in larger containers.  For a more "natural" treat, I will combine plain yogurt, frozen berries, and a touch of honey.  This past week, when I purchased a new container of Dannon plain and noticed some changes to the packaging.

First, here's the old packaging:

Now, here's the new packaging:

  

There are a few obvious technical differences: larger, clearer text, the "new look! same great taste" banner, and the "Kosher for Passover" designation (which makes sense, given that I bought it a week ago).

The effect on the brand is more subtle:

- The farm scene is greatly simplified, losing the trees and silo.  This simplicity fits with the desired brand associations: natural, simple, and traditional.

- The old design had indistinct "swooshes" of green and blue, while the new design has more white background. Taking this away makes the on-package messaging clearer, and focuses the consumer on the words and the barn imagery.

- The reduntant phrase "No Artificial Anything" was removed, presumably because consumers understand better that "All Natural" means there is nothing artificial in the product. 

So, what's the big deal?  This is the type of incremental logo and branding changes you would expect from an established multinational company like Dannon. Slow and steady, they will gradually position their healthier yogurts as "simple" and "natural" in order to be more competitive with the increasingly crowded "healthy yogurt" market.

That was the type of logo change I would applaud for a well-recognized consumer food product brand.  The loser in this category would be Tropicana, for it's failed attempt to revamp its logo earlier this year. 

As many bloggers and reporters have pointed out, the new "fresh" packaging doesn't even look like orange juice, unless you look really closely.  Apparently many shoppers thought it was the store brand and kept walking, looking (subconsciously) for the carton with the orange and the straw.

The real question here is, why did they need a major packaging revamp? Was the brand stale? Did they need their customers to perceive their brand differently?  I think this is an example of where the creative ambitions were allowed to go beyond the realm of consumer-focused marketing.  It may have been a fresh, contemporary design, but a product packaging must always be first and foremost and means of effectively communicating with the consumer, not just a canvas for artistic expression.