I know most of you are asking, what’s a “logo jungle”? Well, I am just the person to help you out. Logos, as we know, are graphic representations or symbols of a company’s name and image that are designed to create recognition and identity and communicate a value association. At least, that’s how I would define it. Dictionaries may have another definition.
A jungle can be defined several ways, but for our purposes, it is a wild land or tropical rainforest overgrown with dense vegetation that is usually uninhabitable, hard to access, and hard to navigate due to treacherous terrain, predators, insects, and plants that can cause harm in some manner. A jungle can also be a land of amazing, abundant, and uniquely beneficial resources that can help mankind address maladies and illness. The challenge is to navigate jungles in a manner conducive to your company’s health! One needs to be careful and cognizant of the terrain and to not get lost in its allure, as it can prove perilous.
We came up with term logo jungle in 2018 as we began to help brands run their RFPs for customer loyalty solution options (technology, consultant, programs, and combinations of both). As we began to assist brands, we became more familiar with their challenges and opportunities, which is not dissimilar to traversing the Amazon (no, not that Amazon), where one misstep can be hazardous to your health (individual) or longevity (career). The challenge in picking the right solution to drive and enhance the relationship with your customers is more difficult today than ever before.
The interest in customer, channel, and brand loyalty is creating a renaissance for Loyalty360. Brands realize that they must comprehensively rethink their approach to garner the economic traction that comes from the personalized and engaging products and service offerings that a shared and understood customer loyalty approach helps to put forth, even as the challenge of picking the right solution or technology is more complex than ever.
As we began to help brands with their RFPs and help them pick the right solution provider, we noticed a few challenges. The first challenge brings us back to the association dictionary reference. For us to ratiocinate the associated meaning of the word, we must understand the denotative and connotative meaning of the word. The logo jungle is applicable in a couple of ways, the challenge being on two fronts.
The first is that what constitutes a customer loyalty platform versus what constitutes a loyalty program or loyalty marketing approach. Those can be different, and there are many ways that a brand can implement a customer loyalty approach. They can use customer data platforms, loyalty marketing programs and solution providers, and VoC technology and analytics engines to increase the efficacy of its processes. There is a challenge as to what the traditional (denotive) approach to loyalty programs does to develop a loyal customer. Customer loyalty is much bigger, yet the lack of uniform, understood, and socialized definitions is a challenge. How one brand or supplier may define (connotative) customer loyalty or loyalty marketing can create a challenge.
The next challenge is the logo jungle challenge. I am sure most of you reading this will relate, at least on the brand side. Once brands understand the definition of CDP, VoC, VoE, CX, and customer loyalty platforms, they can handle loyalty program needs and hopefully customer loyalty needs. After you have picked the technology or combinations of technologies that will enable you to put forth a better offering, you have the crux of the “logo jungle.”
The logo jungle is that slide (we all know it) where there are a certain number of marquee brands that show up (Starbucks, Jet Blue, Nordstrom) and invariably some brands will show up more frequently. Let’s say you have gone through the RFI and have brought in five solution providers, consultants, or combinations of them to present to the senior executive team. Invariably, out of the five solution providers, you will see three of the providers who all claim to “run their program.” Strange isn’t it! This only makes the decision-making process that much more challenging.