Three million pesos. That's what the Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) allegedly spent on their new logo that's now earning the ridicule of netizens.
As of this writing, shady details are now emerging in social media about the “graphic designers” who presented Pagcor’s new logo, which broadcaster Ted Failon, as well as some netizens, compared to the logo of a major petroleum company here in the Philippines.
According to the “Marites” among graphic designers and web developers who apparently managed to track down Printplus Graphic Services, to whom Pagcor awarded the contract for the redesign of Pagcor's logo, didn't even have more than a hundred followers on Facebook and was located inside a subdivision in Las Piñas City. (Sure, many graphic designers now "work from home," but it's still kind of suspicious how Pagcor selected a virtually unknown graphic designer that didn’t even have its own business address.)
And the clincher? That same graphic designer allegedly supplied campaign materials in favor of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. in the 2022 elections.
Hmmm…
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But these allegations aside, why do government agencies and government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) need to spend MILLIONS on rebranding their image?
That’s the question we should be asking in light of the spurious rebranding of some of our government agencies in the past weeks.
Remember, we’re still not over yet from the “Love the Philippines” campaign of the Department of Tourism (DOT) that drew international flak after it was discovered that some videos used in the campaign didn’t even come from the Philippines!
And what about the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) decision in 2020 to “upgrade” their logo from a modernistic rendition of the Philippine eagle to something that looks like it belonged to a monarchy? To me, the logo that was used by BSP from 2010 to 2020 was in fact more suitably adapted for today’s modernistic trends than the current one.
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According to Admind Creative Agency, a major branding agency based in the European Union, businesses (and, I believe, government agencies, too) should do these steps before deciding on a rebrand:
- Always start by asking: do you really need a rebrand? After all, if something works, why reinvent it? Remember – as humans we inherently dislike changes, so avoid the unnecessary ones.
Don’t underestimate the emotional bond built between your customers and your existing brand image.- Ask customers about your brand. Explore what they expect and what they like about your brand design. Also check where the boundary of acceptable change is.
Make changes carefully so that your brand identity is not lost. It should be clear to customers what the company does, so the brand identity should always try to clearly indicate what products or services it offers. (Piotr Wiśniewski and Szymon Dyrlaga, "5 examples of unsuccessful rebranding," Admind Creative Agency)
And that’s what Pagcor did, unfortunately: they ditched the familiar logo that has been in use since it was created in 1977, apparently without consulting other government agencies or other stakeholders about it.
Yes, logos and branding should adapt to the changing tastes and styles. But, as some marketing analysts have stated, such changes should not be too drastic that the public loses touch of the brand or gets turned off by it. Or, to put it in more understandable language, if it ain’t broke, why fix it?
#UncommonSense
#PAGCOR
#LogosAndBranding
#OpinYon