You Suck! Oh, wait a minute …

I attended the National Association of Realtors show this past weekend in San Diego, California. I was shocked when I first saw the billboard at this booth and noticed what appeared to say “You Suck.” I was anxious to find out who would display such an audacious message. After approaching the billboard from a different angle, I noticed that it really said “YOUR SUCCESS.” I was curious if this was intentional or completely accidental.  Unfortunately, the message didn’t turn out to be the insult I had first perceived. Either way, because of the position, it mostly looked like “YOU SUCK.”

Walmart’s new look

Walmart has changed the look of it’s website and more presumably their logo. Gone is the star that separated the “Wal” and “mart.” They are going for a hipper new look. Unfortunately, it looks like they’re trying a bit too hard to be Target. 

Let’s analyze the logo:
First off, what’s with the new symbol? It looks like a dingbat from Zaph Dingbats. (To be fair, the spacing has been adjusted and color added but come on, do they think it’s clever and nobody will notice?) The symbol looks sadly out of place. Removing the star was a good idea. (I never quite understood why it was there in the first place) Blue.. not a bad choice for the type. I really like the color blue they chose. Yellow for the dingbat just doesn’t work. It’s probably not the color as much as it is the logo.

Now for the tag line:
They ditched the old line “Always Low Prices.” I guess by this point most people know pretty much that Walmart is a deep discount/bargain store. So what do the brain trust over at Walmart come up with? “Save money. Live better. WHAT! Okay, I get the save money part. I think the whole world gets that. LIVE BETTER?? We’re supposed to live better if we shop at Walmart? Is that what they’re getting at? I don’t get it.

It no mystery that Walmart’s market share is declining. It’s not a bad idea to reinvent and reshape the brand. In this case it’s a total miscue. It’s obviously a decision made by a bunch of suits at Walmart.

Target:
Target is an ever evolving brand name. They have great products at reasonable prices. And many cool designers to boot. Also, when a new Target comes to town, the community is actually happy about it. You don’t see anyone protesting or showing up at city board meetings attempting to block a new Target. The same cannot be said of Walmart.

Target has since dropped the “Target” name from the logo. Anyone can easily recognize the brand sans the actual name beside it. Now that’s clever.