BestBuy for sale?
Oh, no. It's just their new logo. In case you've missed the news, here's a link to BrandNew's reaction for images.
It's curious that BestBuy has taken this drastic of a step in updating their identity, and it's certainly too early to see what will come of it. It will be nice when there's an official press release concerning it, until then I think there will be a lot of head scratching and speculation. Here are a few of my thoughts:
- The new logo says to me that you are purchasing the "best buy", where the old one communicated that you were getting the "best buy" on the object you are purchasing. A small distinction, but a huge shift in meaning.
- The old logo was easily recognizable at a distance. It seems illogical for a large retailer who locates their outlets most often in strip malls by interstates to make their identity less easily recognized. A good example is the image Armin linked to on the BrandNew blog for the storefront in the Mall of America. It doesn't stand out in contrast to any other store.
- The new logo, according to the small amount of information the company has published, is meant to target a new market segment: women. It's a trend going around the marketing world right now (see: walmart, memorex, michael's, etc.) I'm not sure that sacrificing the brand equity, recognizability, and visibility of their identity is worth targeting a non-primary market. Perhaps they don't think they'll lose their current, male, clientele. They could be right, but I don't know that it offsets the new problems.
- They could have updated the logo rather than completely replaced it. In some ways it is just an "update" in the sense that it still says "bestbuy" and has a yellow tag, but it in no way keeps the same visual identity of the previous logo. The face is now title caps and doesn't appear to relate to electronics or retail, it's two primary functions. It's only quality is that its interesting, but a little awkward around the "s". The tag appears to be an afterthought at this point, being unattached, fitting only because it mirrors the "y" and little else. It's nice to see that it matches cap height and the descenders perfectly, but the weight drags it too far down, making it appear aligned below the baseline. It also doesn't interact with the type in any way, and it makes me question the necessity of an illustrative element if it's just "attached" at the end of the wordmark.
Frankly, it may have been better off without the tag at all. It's too easily recognized as the primary feature of the original logo and now it's treated as an element that the designers were forced to use but didn't want to emphasize. It seems to me, that the wordmark would appeal to me more without the tag, and it could still be given the size emphasis BestBuy is used to. Time will tell us what this new identity will do to BestBuy. It may be nothing, it may position them out of their own market.