Less is More? Why big brands are going bold and bare

Anyone who’s been out and about recently may have spotted something missing on advertising billboards. They’d be right. An out-of-home design trend has emerged which leaves a key element to interpretation - the brand logo.

Instead of following tight lock-up rules, more brands are starting to deconstruct, alter and reinvent elements of their identity to strip back designs and create impact. Having established their brand’s colours, typefaces and central imagery in customers’ minds, they’re leveraging this authority to reengage them.

Here, we’ll examine these branding tactics, their impact on audiences and whether all brands can take the same approach.

How are brands stripping back identities?

Having stringently stuck to their design rules for several years, prominent brands like McDonald's, Heinz, British Airways and Kelloggs’ are breaking them in new ad layouts. Specifically, they’re opting for subtle visual cues over overt branding by:

• Combining pared-back product images of McDonald’s food and drink with their well-known typeface
• Reinventing both Heinz’s logo and slogan ‘It Has To Be…’ to highlight the most-loved accompaniments to their products
• Getting up close to sections of a logo to reemphasise brand personality traits Kelloggs’ playfulness and British Airways’ immersive experience.

This bravery is only possible because these brands have market dominance and customers recognise their key visual elements. By relying on this notoriety and loosening their design rules, the brands project confidence. This refreshes customer perception by creating a sense of rediscovery while offering reassurance of recognisable aspects.

Why are brands taking this approach?

One key driver is that cleaner, more minimalist designs stand out to customers in a noisy, bombarding world. However, each brand has specific reasons for deconstructing its design elements.

Increase relatability

McDonald’s recently launched new ads as part of the ‘Only at McDonald’s’ campaign. The ads celebrate the rituals customers enjoy when eating their food and drink, from dipping their straw into a milkshake to adding a hash brown to a McMuffin.

By combining stripped-back visuals with the brand’s typography, this campaign reminds customers about the joyful experience of eating at McDonald’s. Seeing themselves in the everyday moments recreated in the ads, customers reconnect and relate more closely to the brand.

Refresh the message

Similarly to McDonald’s, Heinz tapped into their customers’ experiences of the product by putting variations on their ‘It Has to Be…’ slogan above delicious close-ups of their soup, beans and other foods. This highlights the irresistible combinations customers can create with Heinz products.

By combining their brand’s typography, top-level messaging and photography in a new way, the brand creates a fresh perception without getting too far from their roots. This reflects what customers already know about the brand (that they make delicious foods) in a new, engaging way.

Giving a playful edge

Loved by adults and children alike, the Kelloggs’ brand is (by the nature of its products) playful. They’ve reflected this with a contemporary take on their logo for a series of print ads. This takes the ‘OG’ from the typography and enhances it with bold brand colours and a 3D recreation of their cockerel mascot.

A simple, clean design, positioning the ‘original’ brand in a new, cool way is a reinvigoration of their heritage that appeals to new generations of cereal lovers. It does all this while still being clearly recognisable and without completely reinventing brand elements.

Connecting to audiences

The sense of adventure, excitement and escape that British Airways creates for its customers was encapsulated in its latest set of striking, photography-based billboards. Capturing the serene expression of a passenger gazing out of an airplane window, bathed in a warm, golden glow, the new campaign evokes the unmistakable feeling of a holiday escape. It invites the audience to immerse themselves in that same sense of freedom and adventure.

The ads reflect the ‘wonder of being at 35,000 ft’ on a BA flight without a single line of copy. With the photo’s context providing all the explanation, their stunning quality also positions BA as an iconic, luxurious brand, rather than a regular airline.

Can any brand do this?

Confident brands can take the risk of simplifying their messaging and focusing on emotional connections rather than over-explaining their identity. This can involve stripping back logos and relying on recognisable colours, typography, or other visual elements to communicate their brand story and traits.

However, to take this approach, brands need to be sure that their identity, messaging and market position are well-known. Otherwise, their target customers won’t understand the context and meaning of any recreations of the brand elements and the design will fall flat.

This confidence takes time to build through consistent branding, strong customer relationships, and a clear value proposition. However, once all the hard work is done, it can be leveraged to enhance the brand’s authenticity and authority in new ways that appeal to a wider consumer market. This gives brands a higher perceived value and a competitive market edge.

No matter what size your business is, if you have strong brand foundations, then a confident approach will build exposure and amplify your difference in the market.

To find out more about how our team can amplify your brand using new strategies, call us on 01926 754038 or drop us an email at hello@designmc.org