A PR War Triggered by a Graphic Design Choice

As my colleague, Tim Kane has said, “People don’t buy brands. They join them.”

This was amply demonstrated this summer when Ikea unleashed a major global brouhaha by swapping its signature typeface — a customized version of Futura — for Verdana, a simpler, cheaper and more widely available font, originally created by Microsoft specifically to be used on the Web. (On his blog, Mattias Åkerberg compares and contrasts the two fonts.)

The reaction was swift and passionate. An article by Lisa Abend in TIME magazine quotes some typical responses: “‘Ikea, stop the Verdana madness!’ pleaded Tokyo's Oliver Reichenstein on Twitter. ‘Words can't describe my disgust,’ spat Ben Cristensen of Melbourne. ‘Horrific,’ lamented Christian Hughes in Dublin.”

In my opinion, the real problem is that Ikea is widely known for the unpretentious and simple — but beautiful — design of its furniture. Its original typeface fit the company’s style and, thus, supported the company’s brand. With the switch to Verdana, Ikea seems, to its some of its most hardcore fans, to be surrendering its originality and credibility for expediency … and violating its brand promise.

Don’t Mess with My Brand!

Want more proof that the company doesn’t own your brand … its customers do?

This month, Pepsico will be scrapping some expensive changes to the packaging of one of its flagship products, Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice. The longtime Tropicana brand symbol, an orange impaled by a straw, had been replaced by the image of a glass of fresh orange juice.

Tropicana’s customers were furious about the brand makeover, describing it in letters, e-mail messages and telephone calls as “ugly” and “stupid,” and saying that it resembled “a generic bargain brand,” according to The New York Times.

Bowing to popular pressure, the original version of the packaging will be brought back next month. According to Tropicana president Neil Campbell, it wasn’t the sheer volume of the outcries that led to the corporate change of heart, it was the fact that the criticism came from some of the Tropicana’s most loyal consumers.

As my colleague Tim Kane has written, “People don’t buy brands. They join them.” You interfere with that relationship at your own risk!