Abstract:

Two beliefs underpin this study which was carried out among 6000 people in six European countries : - the brand and its graphic symbol, the logo, are the main institutional and product communication vectors in a complex world market, - the brand in a market of the type being constructed in preparation for 1993 will be more than ever the element by which the status of a company and its products are measured. The logo, sign and symbol, is the most universal communication mode. When a brand symbol is conceived and used well, it constitutes the best method of transmit- ting to the consumer the memory of the quality and the confidence he acquired of the product and the service. The logo is the sign of recognition, the benchmark, which points to the product as a guarantee of user satisfaction. As a vector of acquired and memorized user confidence, the logo, must obviously meet all sorts of demands from marketing and communication executives. The logo must be particularly well thought out and reproduced accurately in a controlled graphic environment. It must - by its form and colour, its simplicity or complexity - embody the company and its products and there- by reach the sensibility of the consumer. The logo must be easy to memorize and to identify with one single brand and not one of its competitors. Its clear graphics must take over from words and names and express brand uniqueness independently. For cultural or linguistic reasons, words or names associated with logos may have a meaning in purely national markets. However they lose their impact in a single European market where more than eight languages are spoken daily and where the logo as a brand symbol is now considered to be the main communication vector in complex markets. TV satellite channels transmit advertising simultaneously to markets much more complex than Europe's. Their span is tending to become at least continental if not global and transcends economic, geographic, cultural and linguistic frontiers. Would an increase in spending on sponsorship be possible or desirable if companies could not brand a sporting or cultural event with their logos and capitalise on the extra publicity that a prestigious event can bring.