The Liquor Control Board of Ontario has updated their branding. Re-branding is a process that every successful company goes through from time to time. The $500,000 dollar re-branding project has some confused as to where the money goes, wether it was useful spending of a crown corporation's money, or wether the company needed the change at all.
Budgeting
A project of this scale requires a lot of research and planning, many companies and organizations of this size spend similar amounts on re-branding. The city of St. Catharines recently put $20,000 up for their re-branding project, many citizens were unsatisfied with the proposed new logo, and others were upset they were spending 'so much'. Maybe the reason they looked so bad had to do with the fact many major city re-branding projects cost as much as $250,000 to $500,000.
Subtle but Impactful
Although the change to the branding and logo might seem subtle- it creates a large impact over time for the image of the company. I would like to argue that today's Ontarian alcohol consumers are subconsciously bored of the old LCBO brand. We may say we like it when asked– but I think we're indifferent.
Reframing the Narrative
The old slogan of "Discover the World." now becomes "Let's get together."– a fetching phrase and very fitting to the actual reason we buy alcohol. The logo itself abandons of the old grapes, hops and barley graphic, exchanges the old typeface for a more modern yet similar one with more rigid straight serifs. The colours change from the old green to a deep navy blue. A minimalist, sleek design– maybe a bit cliche, but definitely reflects popular design today.
Will this re-branding affect their sales? After all, we have nowhere else to buy liquor. Either beer store aficionados will convert to LCBO, or current LCBO customers will buy more product. I don't know if it will increase sales this way, but it will leave an impression consciously or subconsciously in existing customers that LCBO cares about it's image, is willing to stay current, and wants to be engaged with it's consumer on an intimate level– all this ensures brand loyalty.
