Selling a business without any brand recognition is stupid

I had a chat with a chap who was retiring after a successful career. He was ringing us because as he said "They told me that I need a logo"... He went onto say "I've been working for 45 years on my business, I'm now retiring and in order to sell my business, they tell me I need a logo. I asked him a few questions. He responded with some interesting information. "I haven't needed a logo until now. I still don't know that I need one. I said "what's the problem" He replied "All of my network are retiring or have already retired and with them has all the work. We've got no work for the first time in 45 years and the industry itself is thriving".

I could see from his initial request that he still was not convinced that his business ever needed a logo or any advertising. We both realised that his business needed to be relaunched with a considered marketing and branding approach.

The desired outcome in many business cases at the end of the business life, or during the career is to sell the business to the highest bidder. Selling a business with a great track record but with zero recognition within the thriving market place might not be as profitable as it might have been.

The answer is not as simple as just having a logo. We agree - A logo at the end of a career means absolutely nothing. But what if they had one at the beginning. Better yet, what if they had a highly memorable logo and brand values that stood for something that the business did believe.

Take away the American flag from the patriotic American and what do you have? Probably a patriotic American looking for something else to hoist.

The logo is only valuable after it is recognised. It's what you do with it that counts. It's running with the flag through the whizzing bullets and planting it at the top of the hill. It's the placement of the flag over the casket as it returns from battle. It's the ceremony associated with the folding of the flag. It's a tangible reminder of it's associations. It's a trophy and it's a sign of peace or aggression or of prosperity or of what ever it needs to be.

What's a policeman without their uniform? The uniform is as much a logo as it is a piece of cloth. It represents something and it is recognisable. A uniform as part of a brand is mostly recognisable if it is amongst people wearing casual clothing. The moment that the policeman walks through a group of security guards in full uniform, they might be a bit harder to spot. Now we are talking about standing out. Another role of the logo.

So needless to say, we don't wish to deal with the unconverted. We wish to continue producing interesting concepts which support the attributes of our valued clients businesses.