Cognitive and emotional processing of brand logo changes

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to develop and empirically test a model of how consumers process logo changes used in rebranding. Design/methodology/approach – Individual in-depth interviews with 12 informants allowed researchers to better understand how consumers respond to logo changes. After developing a model of how consumers process logo changes, researchers deployed a field study evaluating two actual retail brands using survey methodology with 406 respondents. Findings – Nine of the ten hypotheses of the study receive support. Notably, both interest in the logo change as well as doubt about the logo change characterize consumers’ processing of the logo change. Research limitations/implications – Although study respondents viewed multiple brands along with variations of these brands, other brands might elicit other responses from consumers. Further study is now in order. Practical implications – As a result of the study, brand managers can be more aware of the positive and negative processing that brands receive from consumers when brands change their logos. Accordingly, communication programs of brands can better anticipate such processing before logos are changed. Social implications – Social enterprises that change their logos stand to benefit in a similar way to for-profit businesses that change their logos. Originality/value – This is the first study to include two types of curiosity – interest curiosity and deprivation curiosity – in a comprehensive model to better explain how consumers process logo changes.