Last week, I helped produce an amazing charity event that had about 30 sponsors, these sponsors were featured on the event website, included in an event booklet and in a looping video that was played throughout the event…….plenty of great branding and marketing opportunities that showed just how much these companies cared about doing good in their communities.
What is shocking is that many of the sponsors qualify as logo bozos. They were unable to provide a good quality logo which no doubt caused them to waste money, lose business and it caused brand damage because for this event, we used the logos no matter how bad they were.
Now, before we think that this is a rampant problem, it is not. 90% of the sponsors were able to send logos in the proper format, one for web and one for print, and they followed directions perfectly….
But what about the other 10%, the ones that sent a low-resolution crappy logo and had no other logo to give us. For some of our sponsor contacts, it was not a lack of trying, they were unable to get a logo no matter how hard they tried… their corporate marketing departments were unable or unwilling to provide them.
Now, if you think that this is an isolated incident, you are mistaken, I said that it was not rampant; I did not say it was uncommon. Every event I produce has roughly the same stats. 10% of the sponsors and exhibitors do not have the proper logos to give.
The Logo Bozo is something that meeting and event professionals have to contend with for every event they produce where there are sponsors or exhibitors. It makes you think – OMG, what is the matter with these companies. These are brand-damaging, money-wasting, business-missing idiots…..They have paid to have these placements, they signed up to take part and now they don’t follow through causing mayhem for the meeting or event planner.
Meeting and event professionals can only do so much to clean up a bad logo and although we are not above begging for a logo, companies have to have a good logo to give. What these idiot companies probably do not realize is that by not having that logo to give, you are hurting the event they are participating in.
Meeting, Event or Conference Planners are chewing up valuable time chasing your ass down, they are waiting till the last minute to produce materials adding cost and they are missing other opportunities because they have to deal with you, the lazy or ill-equipped marketing executive.
Think about this Mr. Brand-o-Licious, If you are the only one on a web page with a low-res, crappy logo, how does that make you look.. What does that say about you and why should I click on your crappy logo to learn more about you? If you treat your brand this way, how are you going to treat me as a customer? Believe me, oh-non-believer, people notice and they act. How they act as it relates to you is a sorry state of affairs.
You, the Logo Bozo are missing opportunities because someone could not get their hands on a logo that everyone in the company should have access to. OK, so you are a control freak and are afraid to give people access because they may run off and stick your logo on some porn site….. If this is the case, then you need to hire people you trust and you should have a protocol in place for people to get the information and logos they need.
Let me help you set up an internal protocol:
Send out a company memo that says: “If you need copies of the corporate logo, please contact Mary Logomaker at extension 2200″……..See how easy that was.
Not having your logo at the ready is ridiculous, childish, and quite frankly, lazy. I cannot believe that there are companies out there that care so little about their brand that they would let a terrible logo go out the door to be used in any situation.
Today, there is a CMO somewhere who should be fired, is it you?
