After nearly 20 years, Wal-Mart is getting a new logo.  The logo, which was leaked earlier last weekend by the Wall Street Journal.  The Journal discovered a version of the logo on a planning drawing and published it.  This forced Wal-Mart to officially reveal the new look without the fanfare they had planned.  The logo itself looks like this:

There are some changes to the insignia.  First of all, the name is now one word, not two.  The blue lettering is much brighter than the dark blue normally associated with the store.  They’ve also added a sun shaped design (the Journal notes that it resembles the Target insignia) to add more color to the insignia.  The whole logo seems designed to be brighter and less drab than the previous blue lettered logo.

Brand New describes Wal-Mart’s thinking as follows:

As a reason of why the logo change, the reports on newspapers all allude to Walmart’s continued evolution and progression from its less-than-glamorous reputation and image as an invasive retailer with less-than-desirable employment and environmental practices

The Wall Street Journal argument agrees with this assessment, noting that Wal-Mart has had problems in certain communities due to the drab looks of their stores.  It also notes that the logo is another part of an ongoing plan of change by the company, which previously has included changes in employee outfits and the removal of Wal-Mart’s trademark “smiley-face” from all advertising.

So will it work?  Will a change to a brighter logo make people think of Wal-Mart differently?  That is difficult to determine.  A small cosmetic change without internal changes will most likely not cause any real change to public’s perception of the company.  Without changes in the store’s presentation, pricing and marketing strategy, Wal-Mart is still the same store.  Putting a new sign on the front of the store cannot change the store all by itself.  It’s still the same discount store with a history of employee issues, but now its a discount store with a history of employee issues with a new sign.