‘Walmart’ new, but store’s familiar
Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2008
Wal-Mart or Walmart ? That depends, the company says. With the June 30 announcement of its new, nonhyphenated store logo, “Walmart” started showing up in some of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. ’s news releases and other statements and has been appearing in its printed advertising and in-store signs since then.
The new logo is “Walmart” followed by an asterisklike symbol — the company calls it a spark — as big as the letters. The spelling itself is a throwback to the original store logo. Details about the change were outlined in the announcement statement topped by the Wal-Mart logo — with a star between Wal and Mart — that still adorns most Wal-Mart, or Walmart, stores, and the star version remains atop news releases.
Bentonville-based Wal-Mart has no intention of changing its official company name, spokesman Christi Gallagher says.
But nowadays, “Walmart” refers to the company’s U. S. stores, and storefronts eventually will reflect that change. The new logo went up on store No. 1 in central Rogers on Tuesday.
“Wal-Mart” refers to the entire company, which includes stores in 14 other nations, soon to be 15 when operations in India, with a partner, open in 2009.
Gallagher said the hyphen, dash or star used over the years will remain as the “squiggly” in the company cheer.
During the cheer, a staple of Wal-Mart gatherings, a leader has the group spell out the company’s name one letter at a time, beginning with “Give me a W.” When the cheer comes to the element that separates the “Wal” and “Mart” — “Give me a squiggly” — the cheerers render it by gyrating their hips.
Wal-Mart’s original store logo was a single word, Walmart, beginning in 1962; went to Wal-Mart in 1964; added “discount city” and “we sell for less” and “satisfaction guaranteed” in 1968; went back to simply Wal-Mart in 1981; then to Wal-Mart with the star in 1992. All versions were in capital letters.
Changing a well-known logo is a significant move for any company, and a costly one for firms the size of Wal-Mart, said Marty Neumeier, founder and president of Neutron LLC of San Francisco, a consulting firm that helps companies reorganize around brands.
The new logo will appear on thousands of stores and trucks as well as signs and other printed material.
“We’re talking millions and millions of impressions,” he said.
Neumeier said the logo has a softer, more modern feel compared with the most recent one, which he said “always struck me as somewhat nationalistic, and slightly militaristic, because of the star and the rather tough typeface.” “ To me the spark is trying to say something. Positive things, health, happiness, ” he said. If Wal-Mart is successful, he said, the symbol could eventually become like rival discounter Target Corp. ’s bull’s-eye or Apple Inc. ’s apple, instantly recognizable even without the company name. Larry DeVincenzi, a marketing consultant with SmartBrand LLC, a brand strategy firm in Reno, Nev., was less impressed. “Nobody feels like it’s a spark. It’s a glowy, yellow daisy thing that has no meaning,” DeVincenzi said.
To contact this reporter: spainter@arkansasonline. com
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