No-logo trend - Is it the new "make the logo bigger"?
- Salt & Staple
- Feb 26
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 2
Imagine walking past a billboard covered edge to edge with baked beans. No product shot. No brand name. Just beans. Yet, in an instant, you know it’s Heinz.
Or you could spot an ad with a croissant, an egg, and a strawberry forming a familiar blue stripe pattern. Without any logos, your brain whispers, “Tesco.”
Welcome to the era of no-logo advertising, where brands have become so deeply embedded in our culture that even a simple visual cue can trigger recognition. But why are companies shifting away from traditional, logo-centric advertising? What makes this approach so effective? 💥
The holy grail of branding is the ability to remove a logo and still be unmistakably recognizable. The brand has built such substantial visual assets - colors, shapes, textures, and even food placement - that it no longer needs to spell it out.
WHY THESE NO-LOGO ADS WORK
🧠 They demonstrate brand confidence: "You know who we are. We don't need to tell you."
🧠 Consumers are aware of their consumption habits related to products, which helps brands remain or become top-of-mind choices for them.
🧠 Consumers enjoy solving puzzles. A no-logo ad makes them stop, think, and engage - once they figure it out, the brand succeeds.
🧠 They are designed to be the hype themselves, primarily amongst Gen Z, who are sensitive to traditional advertising
🧠 If it fits the brand positioning and voice - once the brand is self-assured, creative, and fun, it’s a flex.
🧠 Being part of an inside joke feels great: audiences enjoy feeling like members of an exclusive club - those who get it, get it.
WHEN NO-LOGO ADS DEFINITELY WON'T WORK:
❌ For small brands that don't have massive brand awareness. A lesser-known brand ditching its logo could quickly end up being ignored.
❌ Products or services made for a narrow, niche target segment (or at least not in OOH).
❌ If the visual cues are not distinctive enough, the audience's mind may not engage.
❌ If the audience has not yet associated the brand’s visual elements, the advertisement risks confusion or being completely unnoticed.
❌ The campaign has no follow-through, like a reveal or a connected campaign, it can disengage audiences. Doritos even changed its Twitter name to @Logo_Goes_Here for better campaign results.
❌ If competitors use similar branding elements, a no-logo ad can easily be mistaken for another brand. The more competitive the market, the more risk there is of blending in.
Is this the future of branding? Or just a flex for the giants?
Examples:
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