Retail industry mid-tier brands are changing to new brand logos. This is an attempt to align with international sensibilities while considering overseas expansion and digitalization.
According to the retail industry on the 27th, CJ Foodville's bakery brand Tous les Jours has changed its brand identity (BI) after eight years. The brand name 'TOUS les JOURS' has been shortened to TLJ, which has been applied to signboards and shopping bags.
◇ Effect of intuitive brand recognition
The reason Tous les Jours attempted such a drastic transformation that one might think "the brand name has changed" is to ensure intuitive recognition of the brand in English-speaking countries. Tous les Jours means "daily" in French, which embodies the brand philosophy of a healthy daily bakery. However, there was feedback from consumers who found it difficult since they did not know French. As a result, the company emphasized a young and vibrant image by applying large and clear fonts along with the use of the pet name.
Tous les Jours currently operates in a total of nine countries, including recently entered Malaysia. In South Korea, it ranks second in the industry after SPC's Paris Baguette, but both its size and revenue are growing overseas. As of 2023, the overseas subsidiaries accounted for 20% of total revenue and 36% of operating profit. In the United States, which it entered in 2004, it has continued to be profitable since turning a profit in 2018. Tous les Jours plans to complete its local production facility this year, aiming to achieve 1,000 stores in the U.S. by 2030.
However, among domestic consumers who are accustomed to the existing brand, reactions to the new logo are mixed. There are responses such as "fresh" alongside comments like "it looks like a clothing brand" and "are they trying to raise prices?" Coincidentally, Tous les Jours is set to raise the prices of 110 types of bread and cakes starting next month.
◇ Changed for better understanding by foreigners
Olive Young, a beauty and health (H&B) store under CJ Group, also recently revamped its BI to align with the global business expansion trend. The 'Olive' symbol between the letters was removed, leaving only the 'OLIVE YOUNG' logo.
The company noted that it focused on enhancing visibility and English readability by reflecting global and omnichannel strategies, which integrate IT and mobile technologies into offline and online retail channels. Additionally, it explained that there has been a surge in foreign tourist visits to domestic Olive Young offline stores, considering the trend of strengthening both online and offline businesses overseas. Many foreigners were said to find the existing logo's round olive symbol between 'Olive' and 'Young' read as the alphabet 'O,' leading to the perception of 'Olive Oyoung.'
The representative beer of OB Beer, Cass, has also recently changed the 'FRESH' font at the bottom of its logo from a cursive style to a simpler one. While maintaining the font that represents high mountains and valleys in the existing logo, it has been revised to feel sophisticated and intuitive. Cass, which ranks first in the domestic beer market, has expanded into Mongolia, Taiwan, Australia, and Europe. Since 2020, it has shown an average annual export growth rate of 14%.
◇ Simple and concise for the mobile era
The commonality among the new logos is that they are simpler and more concise than before. Instead of serif fonts with protruding strokes, bold sans-serif fonts (Gothic fonts) without strokes have been applied to represent the brand simply and clearly. This is a result of choosing logos that are easily identifiable in media, reflecting an environment where communication and consumption mainly occur online.
This is a global trend. Previously, luxury brands such as Céline, Saint Laurent, and Balenciaga changed their logos to sans-serif fonts to engage with the digital generation. Amorepacific Corporation's Innisfree and Sulwhasoo also simplified their brand logos ahead of overseas expansion.
Samyang Foods, which surpassed 1 trillion won in overseas sales with its 'Fire Chicken' brand, has restructured its corporate identity (CI) to Samyang Roundsquare. Ottogi has also changed its English name from 'OTTOGI' to 'OTOKI' to ensure it is easily recognizable to foreign consumers.
A source in the retail industry said, "While using the existing logo posed no problem when entering markets like China and Southeast Asia, which share similar sentiments, there is a trend to revise logos to be easily recognized by diverse consumers as we expand into Western countries such as the Americas."
Some analysts suggest that companies are focusing on enhancing the existing brand image instead of investing in new businesses as they reduce investment expenses due to economic downturns and domestic stagnation. There is also a purpose to respond to trend changes and the demand for generational shifts among consumers. Tous les Jours (1992), Olive Young (1999), and Cass (1994) are all long-established brands around 30 years old, and since they target a generation sensitive to trends, it is essential to continuously enhance the freshness of the brand.
Lee Seung-yoon, a professor at Konkuk University Business School, said, "As we transition into the mobile era, there are more cases of replacing BI or CI for visual effects and other reasons," adding, "Similar to how Apple, which manages its brand meticulously, applied the girl group NewJeans’ rabbit logo to its existing apple logo, the trend is moving toward flexibly changing and utilizing logos rather than sticking to a single logo."