The Rainbow Flower (1998 – 2017) has finally been retired As has the “Applying Thought” tagline. The sunflower was a hat-tip to Wipro’s heritage in vegetable oils. During my stint as Chief Marketing Officer of Wipro Technologies (2005 – 2010) I did not like the logo because it was difficult – and expensive – to reproduce as it had lots of colours and shades. However it was pretty new at the time and there was a lot of emotional attachment to the Flower so it stayed and we worked with it.
The verdict from most alumni and brand experts (do join the conversation on my LinkedIn page) is that the new logo is nice but continues to be impractical in terms of reproduction whether as a favicon or in black-and-white. It is also not particularly unique, reminding many of the Thomson Reuters logo. As Carona Mohapatra, VP & Head – Digital Marketing at Janalakshmi Financial Services says, “On first look, the logo looks bright, modern, contemporary, represents Wipro’s IT and Digital Transformation offerings and seems that it would render itself well to digital media. However, that is not really the case. From an uniqueness point of view, the logo does not get any points, and when it comes to representing the sheer diversity of Wipro Group’s offerings and capabilities I see a big disconnect.” Amongst alumni who have yearned for a new logo over the years the logo has arrived without the expected sizzle.
“Applying Thought” the former tagline did lend itself nicely to IT and we used it successfully in campaigns. There was always an ongoing conversation on how to elaborate on the tagline – how to PROVE that Wipro was applying thought ie IP, labs, R&D investment etc. Which ensured that this was always a focus. Dropping the tagline was a surprise, as much of Wipro’s messaging was built around the previous one. As U. Rajasekharan, Director – Marketing & Communications, Symphony Summit says, “The company’s new logo is a minimalistic, resonates with the digital age and reflects its confidence in cutting through the complexities of the evolving market. While I like the sleek, daring look, I wonder why they have done away with their famous tagline ‘Applying Thought’. The tagline, in most cases, helps the brand tell its story, in a way that leaves a lasting impression. ‘Applying thought’ was not just a line. In my opinion it stood for the brand’s prowess in delivering excellence IT Services. It was making a promise and a call to action to what to expect from the brand. Wipro should have retained ‘Applying Thought’ for some more time or replaced with another suitable line.”
Sometimes how you get your logo done can be a story in itself. As Kiran Veigas, Associate Director and Head – Corporate Strategy and Marketing says, ‘Should Wipro have considered crowdsourcing their logo to create the best one that meets their unique requirements? In fact, Happiest Minds crowdsourced the design of the company logo at inception around 5.5 yrs ago. The winning design of a ‘happy person with open arms’ came from an employee of a competitor firm, and that design was then adapted to professionalize it for brand usage.”
A logo is just a picture and what matters more is what it stands for. And this, in my view is the biggest shortcoming of the launch of the new logo – not tying it in strongly with Wipro’s big push into digital. With the acquisition of Designit and Appirio, Wipro has brought in great digital design capabilities and international resources. As every organization is trying to transform its brick-and-mortar CX to a digital one, it’s a story that is certainly worth talking about. Perception is that Wipro has not yet made the leap to digital, whereas actually, in terms of capabilities they are certainly amongst the top. From a messaging perspective the marketing team should lead with this new capability and use the logo as just a prop to support that story. Designit’s founder, Mike Hallstrup, has in fact has done an interview around “Connecting things in a new way” which could very well be the messaging brief for the new logo.
Updated on 21 November:
Wipro has launched a revamped site
The new site does a better job of conveying their digital capabilities and is much simplified from a navigation perspective. From an overall marketing perspective more could still be done to reinforce the assets they have to back the new positioning.
The new brand identity has been done by Landor and you can read the brand story at //www.wipro.com/brand/
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