To logo, or not to logo?

I am a curious type. Always have been. I don't think I ever grew past the stage in my childhood where you ask "WHY" a lot.

When I meet with new client I always ask, "what are you currently doing for your brand promotion? What merchandise did you use in the past? How successful was it? Why did you do it in the first place?" Yes, lots of questions. I get surprised sometimes on how decisions are made.

Here is an interesting example. I was at the Conscious Capitalism network function.

I love the Purpose before Profit concept that we discussed at length that night.

This after hours function was held in the beautiful corporate office of a law firm. As we were chatting while sharing a glass of wine at the end of the evening I notice a nice pot. It was white and for some reason, one side was covered by white paper using sticky tape. Strange, I thought.

My curiosity kicked in. Looks like a perfect pot to me .... what is the paper for?

Then I pulled off the sticky tape and then........ OMG!!! It was branding. Big logo on the sticker, almost the size of the pot.

I could see how someone even tried to peel the sticker off. Obviously, with not much luck, so they just covered it with paper.

It could be the perfect gift before it got branded.

So often we think that branding is just printing the logo (the bigger the better) on anything in the hope that this is how people will remember who we are.

In reality, sometimes no logo or small subtle branding will achieve more results.

So the next time you are looking to promote your brand, ask the question: to logo or not to logo?

Would love to hear your thoughts.