Working in the marketing industry makes you all too familiar with the great lengths and money spent by brands to attract the attention of children and build brand loyalty from a young age. But is the money and time invested always worth it? Does it pay off for all brands?
Cincinnati graphic designer, Adam Ladd, put brands to the test by asking his 5-year-old daughter Faith what she thinks of when she sees the logos of some of the world’s biggest brands. The filmed content records her reactions and is adorable at the very least, thought provoking and provides a rare peek into how much we bombard young children with advertisements, labels and logos.
According to researchers based in America, the average three year old will recognise up to 100 brand logos – an astonishingly (albeit a little heart breaking) high figure, one that I can safely say I would never have matched as a toddler.
In the case of Faith, some of the world’s most recognisable brands failed the test – the Olympics logo is humorously described as a “baby’s toy”, whilst Puma, Greyhound and Jaguar all feature cheetahs in their logos! And she associates the Google Chrome logo with a brightly coloured beach ball.
She clearly spends a lot of time in coffee shops with Mum and distinguishes the Starbucks logo almost immediately. She enjoys trips to McDonalds, describing the ‘M’ as being designed with French fries – I couldn’t have provided a more literal interpretation of the logo if I tried. But her most obvious awareness comes when she confidently states, “that is the Apple store logo”.
Apple’s logo obviously doesn’t have anything to do with computers, but they’ve created a brand around the logo that evokes such a strong connection it’s instantly recognisable, even by young consumers. Which only goes to validating why Apple has taken over Google in the number one spot for world’s most valuable brand.
Ladd’s video has clocked up more than 1.5 million hits on YouTube, and prompted a UK version by London agency Grain. And yes you guessed it – Apple came up trumps here too.
