What is a brand? How important is it for marketing strategy? The American Marketing Association defines brand as a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. The legal term for brand is trademark. A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller. If used for the firm as a whole, the preferred term is trade name.
Branding is the main reason why I had a designer create a blog mascot for JaypeeOnline. With the help of the mascot, I wanted people/visitors to be able to identify and differentiate my blog from other blogs. To make it stand out, be unique and have its own identity.
WordPress is very particular with its own branding and trademark. That’s why they have a dedicated page for the official WordPress logos and graphics. One recent addition to this page is this particular line and the image below it:
Fight the Fake Logo
Friends don’t let friends use the wrong WordPress logo. If you see one of these in the wild, please gun it down.
Maybe some of you have already noticed this and some may take this lightly and think this isn’t important but personally I like this concept/idea. I’m sure there are still a lot of WordPress users out there who aren’t aware of this and can’t tell the difference between these two logos. As a user and advocate of WordPress, I want to help spread awareness about WordPress including the real WordPress logo.
To be honest, I think I might have been guilty of using these fake logos in the past. So in the next couple of days, I’m gonna go over my old posts, filter out and take down any fake WordPress logos that I will find.
You are my friends and as your friend, I won’t let you guys use the wrong WordPress logo. ;)
@Brand Police – Yep, I think that’s what happened. I’ve seen this “fake” logos come out a few years back when WordPress haven’t posted their official logos on their site. Designers tried to create their own logos without knowing really paying attention into the full details of the logo.
I also came across this recently, and I’m trying to look into WHY the other fake version even exists at all. I would suspect it’s because unlike now WordPress may not have always been so “free” with their logo availability, so someone tried to recreate one and didn’t quite get it right. Do you have any idea where it came from or why the fake exists?
@Joseph – Yep, many people even WordPress users are still not aware about this. That’s why I’m trying to do my part by sharing about it so more users would be made aware about it. :)
Interesting post. I never really paid that much attention to the WordPress Logo before. I may open my eyes in the future.
@Jhay – I agree. Any popular brand, product or service – the logo is one of the things they need to copyright and protect aside from their brand name and patents.
With a brand so popular as WordPress, the image/logo really needs to be protected and everyone made aware that it’s but appropriate that the right ones are used everywhere and every time.