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KEVIN07 Logo as Widely Recognised as Coca-Cola's Logo


20 November 2007

Global Logos surveyed voters in Bennelong to determine the brand awareness of the "KEVIN07" logo and to test how John Howard’s absence of a logo is affecting his current polling and possibly the election outcome this Saturday. We also created a mock John Howard “for Prime Minister 2007” logo and showed it to voters under the age of 35 to see if it would change their vote.

Our research has found that:
  1. The KEVIN07 logo is as widely recognised as Coca-Cola’s logo
  2. Young people prefer a “Howard 2007” logo to a photo of John Howard
  3. A logo can sway the vote of up to one-third (33%) of voters under the age of 35
  4. A “Howard 2007” election logo could lift his votes from 37.5% to match Rudd’s at 44% (for voters aged under 35)
  5. Logos have a particularly strong impact on those aged under 35

KEVIN07 Brand Recognition

Kevin Rudd’s KEVIN07 logo is recognised by 94.4% of those under 35 in John Howard’s Bennelong electorate. This is extremely high. Coca-Cola’s worldwide brand recognition is estimated at 94% (1).



The use of the KEVIN07 logo in conjunction with you-tube videos, t-shirts, bumper stickers, an interactive website, an average of two letter box drops per week in Bennelong and campaigning from Maxine McKew mean KEVIN07 has become a highly recognised brand in Australia and especially in Bennelong.

The ABC’s Trevor Cook points out that “Rudd is a lot more popular than his party” (2). This is partly because Kevin Rudd has launched his own brand – with his own logo – that is distinct from the Labor party’s. The KEVIN07 campaign is the first time in Australia that a logo has been used to represent a prime ministerial candidate (and not the party itself). Although all major and minor Australian parties use logos to represent their organisations only Labor uses a logo to represent its candidate.

The high level of awareness of the KEVIN07 logo can also be attributed to the effectiveness of the logo design.

Analysis of the KEVIN07 Logo design

Is the KEVIN07 logo a good logo?

Comparing the KEVIN07 logo with US presidential logos suggests that it has has many of the attributes to make it a successful logo. Elected US Presidents used logos in their campaigns that(6):
  • Use the colours blue, red and white in their logos
  • Always use the surname of the candidate
  • Do not use stars in isolation (only as part of a flag symbol )
  • When using a flag – do not try and portray it accurately. For example, the logo above shows 7 stripes instead of 13
  • Use an abbreviated version year if you are proposing a lot of change or are the incumbent president as it can imply it will be a year of significant change and you are willing to make bold and tough decisions
  • If you have a high profile deputy (vice president, chancellor or treasurer) add that candidate’s name to the logo and use a “double barrelled” logo. This works particularly well if one of the surnames is short and holds other meaning (e.g. the words ‘bush’ or ‘gore’ have other meanings in the English language)
The KEVIN07 logo adopts many of these but also has some uniquely Australian qualities:

What would a John Howard Logo look like?

A John Howard election campaign logo would probably have the following qualities: In addition, you could give Howard’s image a facelift by:

The "Howard 2007" logo we designed was:

 

What effect might a “Howard 2007” logo have on young voters?

We showed the above “Howard 2007” logo to young Bennelong voters and asked them about their voting intentions. We surveyed two groups of young Bennelong voters: While looking at these photos we asked each respondent the following questions: (1) What probability will you vote for John Howard? (2) What probability will you vote for Kevin Rudd? All respondents were eligible to vote in Australia, all respondents were aged 18 to 35 and included a mix of genders and backgrounds.

Results

Group Group 1 Group 2
Respondents were shown:
Voting intentions

While in the presence of John Howard’s photo, only 7% of Bennelong voters aged under 35 said the would vote for the Coaltion. However, when in the presence of the above “Howard 2007” logo (and the absence of John Howard’s photo), 41% of respondents said they would vote for Howard.

Roy Morgan’s 19 Nov 2007 Australia wide poll showed 37.5% of voters under the age of 35 intend to vote for the Coalition and 47.5% intend to vote ALP (3).

Conclusions

  1. Good logo design can influence the decision of a large number of people – especially when they are under the age of 35.
  2. KEVIN07 logo is as recognised as Coca-Cola’s logo
  3. Young people prefer a “Howard 2007” logo to a photo of John Howard
  4. A logo can sway the vote of up to one-third (33%) of voters under the age of 35
  5. A “John Howard” election logo could lift his votes from 37.5% to match Rudd’s at 44% (for voters aged under 35)
  6. Logos have a particularly strong impact on those aged under 35

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References

  1. 'Coke Connect', Coca-Cola, 2005
  2. 'Get ready for the Ruddslide', ABC, 20 Oct 2007
  3. ALP Ahead 55.5% - 44.5% With One Week To Go - But Marginals Are Too Mixed To Call, Roy Morgan, 19 Nov 2007
  4. 'Young are not marketing savvy: they’re suckers', B&T, 29 Oct 2004
  5. ‘Foods Tastes Better With McDonald's Logo, Kids Say’, Forbes.com, 6 Aug 2007
  6. ‘2008 Presidential Campaign’, 4President.org, 2007