Photo: American Trucks
Car companies spend billions of dollars on advertising and self-promotion every year. On the other hand, Tesla is not doing any of these, so it's interesting to see how the company's image is affected. It turns out it's not, Tesla having one of the most recognizable and loved logos among major carmakers.
A company's logo is among the most important elements in projecting a corporate image and brand recognition. It's understandable why billions of dollars go into promoting this image, as companies want their logos to be instantly recognizable. Tesla is a notable exception, as it doesn't pay for advertising. The EV maker stepped up promotional messages on Twitter and YouTube, but the most important PR team is its enthusiastic community. It's interesting to learn how this is affecting brand recognition.
Based on a recent study by American Trucks, Tesla is doing much better than other carmakers that spend huge amounts of money on advertising. Roughly half of the surveyed Americans consider that Tesla has the best logo among major carmakers. The Tesla logo ranked third, behind BMW (61%) and Audi (51%), and outranked Toyota (46%) and Honda (44%).
The popularity doesn't mean that Tesla's logo is equally memorable. When asked to draw the logo of carmakers from memory, people were less accurate in depicting the Tesla brand compared to other car companies. This is understandable, considering that Tesla is a relatively new brand, created less than two decades ago, in 2004. Intriguingly, Tesla logo drawings (which scored an average of 3.4 out of 10) were more accurate than Toyota (3.1) and Mercedes-Benz (2.5). Both companies treasure their brand image, so this must be painful to learn.
The most memorable logos in the auto industry were those of BMW (5.7), Subaru (5.3), and Nissan (4.7). American brands Ford and Chevrolet were among the favorites in the fourth and sixth positions, with 4.6 and 3.8 grades, respectively. Kia is a special case, considering the company recently changed its logo. This is still confusing, as two-thirds of the drawings submitted during the survey were of the old logo.
American Trucks were also curious to see whether the carmakers' logos could be improved and tasked AI with redesigning them. Surprisingly, the people surveyed liked the AI-designed symbols much better than the real ones, showing room for improvement. Regarding the Tesla logo, the approval rating for the AI-generated image was 65%, compared to 35% for the original logo. Luxury brands like Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and Volvo could benefit the most from AI-assisted rebranding. At the same time, Honda, Lexus, and BMW might be better off with their current logos.
The American Trucks study was done among 503 car owners who shared their opinions on original car logos from 13 brands. The same cohort was tasked to rank symbols generated using Midjourney AI. Researchers also asked 90 respondents to submit hand-drawn recreations of car logos from their memory. These drawings were then scored on accuracy compared to each brand's current logo.
Based on a recent study by American Trucks, Tesla is doing much better than other carmakers that spend huge amounts of money on advertising. Roughly half of the surveyed Americans consider that Tesla has the best logo among major carmakers. The Tesla logo ranked third, behind BMW (61%) and Audi (51%), and outranked Toyota (46%) and Honda (44%).
The popularity doesn't mean that Tesla's logo is equally memorable. When asked to draw the logo of carmakers from memory, people were less accurate in depicting the Tesla brand compared to other car companies. This is understandable, considering that Tesla is a relatively new brand, created less than two decades ago, in 2004. Intriguingly, Tesla logo drawings (which scored an average of 3.4 out of 10) were more accurate than Toyota (3.1) and Mercedes-Benz (2.5). Both companies treasure their brand image, so this must be painful to learn.
The most memorable logos in the auto industry were those of BMW (5.7), Subaru (5.3), and Nissan (4.7). American brands Ford and Chevrolet were among the favorites in the fourth and sixth positions, with 4.6 and 3.8 grades, respectively. Kia is a special case, considering the company recently changed its logo. This is still confusing, as two-thirds of the drawings submitted during the survey were of the old logo.
American Trucks were also curious to see whether the carmakers' logos could be improved and tasked AI with redesigning them. Surprisingly, the people surveyed liked the AI-designed symbols much better than the real ones, showing room for improvement. Regarding the Tesla logo, the approval rating for the AI-generated image was 65%, compared to 35% for the original logo. Luxury brands like Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and Volvo could benefit the most from AI-assisted rebranding. At the same time, Honda, Lexus, and BMW might be better off with their current logos.
The American Trucks study was done among 503 car owners who shared their opinions on original car logos from 13 brands. The same cohort was tasked to rank symbols generated using Midjourney AI. Researchers also asked 90 respondents to submit hand-drawn recreations of car logos from their memory. These drawings were then scored on accuracy compared to each brand's current logo.
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