The Power of Logos

In our recent post "The power of signs," many of the points we made are also true of logos. A company sign--such as the big Holiday Inn signs we discussed--and a company logo--such as the Apple logo--are important symbols. Our tip for entrepreneurs today is about the importance of using such symbols.

Company signs are a very important part of your marketing effort, and word of mouth is the most vital form of publicity, but research shows that logos also are important to any organization's public persona.

For centuries churches have been immediately recognized by clearly identifiable symbols such as crosses. In recent decades successful firms also have been recognized by symbols such as a "swoosh" (Nike), a large black eye (CBS), a yellow "M" known as the golden arches (McDonald's) and even a simple apple with a bite taken out of it.

Just as a good sign adds value to your company’s image, a good logo does as well. Your logo is your organization's brand. It represents your name and the ideas, reputation and feelings associated with your organization.


What makes a good logo? They are simple, memorable and make a statement about your organization. A good logo gives everyone who works for your company a sense of identity and your customers a shared sense of your mission. Vivid colors and a unique graphic design element make your logo instantly recognizable.

Is a good logo really that important? Think about how many people will see your company sign. Maybe 10,000 cars a day pass by your sign. But if you have a great logo and you place it in every advertisement that you run and everywhere else that you should place it, potentially hundreds of thousands of people will see it.

It may be hard for you to believe that logos could impact behavior, but research has found that indeed they do. David has said for years that advertising doesn't work on him, but he cannot deny the power of those Holiday Inn signs. Even years later that symbol brings about an emotional response in him, and if given the option, he would choose to stay at a Holiday Inn based on the warm feelings and memories associated with that sign.

Our hope is that our Arkansas Diamond Mine Adventure logo captures the essence of our business dream and will one day make people of all ages want to return to our family recreation attraction to enjoy a unique experience hosted by friendly folks.


Today's tip for business owners: Ask yourself if your logo looks modern and colorful or old and dated? It may be difficult to let go of it, but help your business and replace an outdated logo.

Our tip for entrepreneurs: Don't skimp on logos and signs. A good logo should add value to your image. Hire a talented graphic designer to ensure that you use the right color, font and illustration to make it aesthetically pleasing. Then make sure you place it on everything you use from ads and business cards to product packaging and websites.

Dear John Williams...

Our tip for entrepreneurs today is about the power of music.

When David was in high school, his youth choir performed a musical on their annual summer choir tour/mission trip. When the choir returned home from these mission trips, it always performed the musical on the following Sunday evening at church.

This is a picture of David's youth choir performing at a church in Idaho the summer after his senior year in high school.







One year David suggested that they ask their pastor if they could perform during the Sunday morning service to reach a bigger audience. Their choir director, Jean Pilcher, called David a cockeyed optimist for thinking Brother John would give up preaching on a Sunday morning for the youth choir to perform. Ever since then David has considered himself a cockeyed optimist.

Through the years David has pursued numerous paths with this mindset. Most recently, as we have prepared the groundwork to raise funds for our Arkansas Diamond Mine Adventure, we have tried to think of anything we could do to generate interest and excitement and hopefully get people to invest or donate to our dream.

One thing we've thought of is commercials. To give our business more credibility, we think it would be good to come up with a musical tag or zinger, kind of like the four musical notes played at the end of Intel TV commercials. We also like the musical tag on the insurance company commercials: "We are Farmers. Bum be dum bum bum bum bum."

With that in mind, David decided to call one of the musical geniuses of our day, John Williams, composer of so many great movie soundtracks including the Raiders March from the Indiana Jones movies. (Congratulations on your latest Oscar nomination in February, Mr. Williams.) We were hoping he would let us use the first 7 notes of the trumpet solo in "Raiders" or better yet create a musical tag to go along with our logo. The only thing we know about John Williams is that he conducts the Boston Pops once a year, so David started with the Boston Symphony.

He called and was transferred to the woman on staff at the Tanglewood Music Center who assists Mr. Williams. David left a voice mail and was surprised when a day or so later a gentleman from her office called. He very nicely explained (or tried to. His cell phone cut out so much David could only hear about one-third of what he was saying. Do you miss the old phone attached to your kitchen wall that seldom cut out but you could sometimes listen to your neighbors' conversations?) that as the winner of many awards and such, Williams was under great demand and wouldn't have time to speak to me. Apparently he only takes calls from people named Spielberg and Lucas.

He said we could go to the BMI website and find out who owns the copyright to the Raiders of the Lost Ark March and request permission from them to use the music, but because it was so popular, he said our chances were "slim to none." He also made it very clear that we would violate copyright laws if we used any portion of the music (even 4 notes) that sounded anything like the Raiders soundtrack.

So we asked Devin, our musical nephew who performs regularly at Murry's Dinner Playhouse, if he would try to come up with something to match our logo. He hasn't yet, so to our musical friends, we issue the same challenge: come up with a music tag to play at the end of our commercials and feature on our website and Facebook page. Compose a winner and you will get an Arkansas Diamond Mine Adventure T-shirt and two free passes to our dream when it gets built.

If you own a small business or want to start one, keep in mind the value of a jingle. Small business owners should take cues from successful companies such as McDonald's, Coke and Chevrolet, and many of them have used great jingles in their commercials to separate them from their competition.

David vividly remembers the broadcast of the 1971 Arkansas-Texas football game. Perhaps it was because Arkansas won that game, but he also vividly remembers the songs from the TV commercials played during the game (Chevrolet "building a better way to see the USA" and "Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there"). Think of all the music jingles you can remember from TV commercials in your childhood. Do they bring back warm memories?

The Power of Signs

Our tip for entrepreneurs today is about the value of a good sign. Your sign is one of the most important tools in your organization’s marketing efforts. In our recent post about how David almost became a guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, he mentioned the shoebox full of Kodachrome slides that has been in our attic for 30 years. We took a stroll down memory lane looking at all those slides.

One image surprised David at the warm feelings it brought back. David has fond memories of a particular sign from his childhood that warms his insides when he thinks about it. It is the old Holiday Inn sign that once dotted the highways of our great country. As a child he loved staying at Holiday Inn because it meant he and his brother got to swim and sleep in a cold room at night.

In a box labeled "senior trip to Florida," we found this image from the motel where David and his classmates stayed in Destin, Fla. (That's Kenny Singleton posing below the sign.)

We’ve been thinking about what would make a good sign for our business dream. Every day you see signs that do not make you want to visit a business. So what was it about those Holiday Inn signs that produced such a visceral reaction in David?

First, a good sign has good visibility from the street or highway. Is it big enough to be easily read from a distance? Can it clearly be seen at night? Are trees or other obstacles blocking the sign? City or local codes will impact the size, type and location of your sign, so work with those folks to maximize your sign’s potential. Does it have enough lights and are all light bulbs and/or neon tubes working? A sign with good visibility increases your company’s visibility.

Second, a good sign looks good from the street or highway. Does your sign look modern and colorful or old and dated? A good sign adds value to your company’s image. Hire a sign company with a talented graphic designer to ensure that you use the right colors, images, fonts and sizes to make it aesthetically pleasing. A good-looking sign makes a statement about your company and gives you a sense of identity.

When Kemmons Wilson, the founder, retired from Holiday Inn in 1982, the company started losing market share. The new leaders looked for ways to save money and decided that the "Great Sign," as they called it, looked outdated and was not worth the cost. We would argue that those old signs were much more inviting and effective than the newer signs, which the new owners would argue were more modern, much simpler and much cheaper to produce and maintain.

The reason Holiday Inn started losing market share wasn’t the signs; it was the old carpet, bedding and furnishings their motels featured. If the paint is peeling off the walls at the entrance of your business, or the parking lot is not well lit, it doesn’t matter how fantastic your sign is.

Finally, a good sign presents a good message. The challenge is to be informative yet simple. You can put only so much information on your sign. Potential customers driving by don’t have time to read a lot of text. Does your sign make it obvious what type of product or service you offer? People of any age know exactly what it means when they see those golden arches from a distance.

Never underestimate the power of a good sign.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Tour Part Two

One of the goals of this blog is to provide helpful information to other wannabe entrepreneurs. It occurred to me that in our blog about our visit to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette last month, I failed to mention any helpful advice for you, so let me correct that.

We took Diamond in the Rough and two of our daughters to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newsroom yesterday. I took D.i.t.R. in early May in hopes of meeting Pulitzer Prize-winning Editorial Page Editor Paul Greenberg. Thanks to his friendly secretary, Paula, this time we were successful.

Mr. Greenberg came to the lobby to meet our family. Sporting a tan suit, baby blue tie and long, silvery hair, the southern gentleman shook my hand and then immediately offered a gift to Robyn. Even though he was on deadline, he graciously visited with us, asked our children questions and then gave us a tour of the newsroom. Pine Bluff has much to be proud of in this native son.

Mr. Greenberg's May 2 editorial on Chuck Colson prompted me to take the family down to meet him. His editorial in last Sunday's paper about the demise of daily newspapers in New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., shined a light on the sad state of newspapers in America. Greenberg called himself a dinosaur in the media world. He meant that in a self-deprecating way, I think, but dinosaurs stand tall and strong, so I'd say that's accurate.

The helpful information I forgot to point out to you small-business owners is to make the effort to go to your local newspaper and meet the managing editor and the editor or writer in charge of the business section. Editors and reporters are not your enemy; they won't bite. And until newspapers become extinct, you need to establish a relationship with them.

How I Almost Got on 'The Tonight Show' with Johnny Carson

In honor of the Little Rock Film Festival, today I digress from writing about our dream of opening a family obstacle and ropes course for a point of personal pleasure. This is something I've waited 30 years to show and tell. It's the story of how I almost was a guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

I read an article on TodayInArkansas.com asking readers to submit memorabilia from movies made in Arkansas to the Old State House Museum for an exhibit planned for next year. This reminded me of the bright orange, Nike Blazer Hi-Top shoe box full of Kodachrome slides that has been sitting in my attic for 30 years.

The event dates back to my freshman year at the University of Arkansas. Columbia Pictures rolled into town that fall to produce the television mini-series The Blue and the Gray. For a month they were on the university campus and in and around Fayetteville recreating the days of the Civil War. At the time I was entertaining the idea of trying to go into the movie-making business.

Several guys in my dorm were hired as extras for the movie, so I enthusiastically followed the production crews around Northwest Arkansas taking pictures with my Pentax camera. I decided to put together a slide show on the making of The Blue and the Gray starring myself as the director and the guys in our dorm (UBC Hall).

Back before the days of digital cameras, a poor college student could only take so many photos, so I only shot three or four rolls of film from the five or six on-location shoots that I visited. It's important to understand that I was trying to conserve my film, so each shot had to count.

One cool fall day the crew was on the lawn in front of Old Main shooting scenes of an interesting meeting between President Abraham Lincoln, played by one of my favorite actors--Gregory Peck--and Stacy Keach's Union general character and the young journalist whose life the mini-series chronicled. It was fascinating to watch the rehearsals as the new repeating rifle the Union general was demonstrating for the President kept jamming to the frustration of the movie cast and crew. Peck and Keach never lost their cool.

After they finally shot the scene a few times, they picked up the camera, lights and equipment and moved perhaps 150 feet down the mall to the side of Carnall Hall (now the Inn at Carnall Hall) for another scene. I found myself with the chance of a lifetime. Here I am, 18 years old, wearing a St. Louis Cardinals jacket and sporting a scruffy beard, and the majestic Gregory Peck is standing with his assistant about 10 feet from me. Everybody else had moved on.

I calmly walked up to him with a friend from my dorm and asked if he would mind posing for a picture. I explained that I was producing a slide show on the making of the movie, that I was the director and was hoping to get a shot of me going over the script with Peck. He never hesitated; he just smiled and said he would be glad to. I handed my camera to my friend--I think his last name was Hobson--and told him that I had only one frame left on the roll and to make it a good one.

My friend took our picture, but he did not advance the roll. Then the Oscar winner--looking so much like Honest Abe--got down on his knees, his hands clasped together, and looked up at me begging, "What do I do now, Mister Director? What do I do now?" It was hilarious, but I was afraid the campus police were going to come tackle me thinking I was hurting the esteemed actor, so I starting pulling him up by his arm.

Meanwhile, my friend put down my camera, pulled his camera up and clicked a picture of Peck on his knees looking up at me. Peck laughed as I pulled him up to his feet while I looked around for the officers I was sure were closing in on me. His amused assistant smiled slightly, and as far as I know, only the four of us ever realized what happened. I nervously thanked him and then we turned and walked away.

As we shook our heads at what we had just experienced, I asked my friend if he had gotten a picture of the moment. I don't recall his answer, but I was so excited because I remembered that every now and then Johnny Carson would have people on his show to tell about their brush with someone famous. For those too young to remember, Carson hosted the popular late-night NBC TV show before Jay Leno.

My friend handed my camera back to me, and out of sheer reflex I advanced the film and the lever stopped. I discovered that I had one more shot on the roll, but my friend couldn't have known that because the moment happened so fast. If only he would have advanced the roll ... or I'd had a digital camera from the future.

Anyway, I got the roll developed and, upon seeing the image, was thrilled that my friend got a good picture, except that he aimed too high. During my college years I looked at the slide and showed it to a few friends by holding it up to a light. I always intended to, but I never got a print made. As the years went by, I pretty much forgot about it.

After reading the blurb about the Old State House Museum exhibit, I remembered the slide and went up to our attic and found the box. I took my prized possession to our nearby Bedford Camera store to have it scanned to a CD. We picked it up a few days later, and I excitedly loaded it onto our computer. For the first time I saw this wonderful image, not on a one-inch slide, but enlarged on my computer screen, and now I share it with you.

This picture means a great deal to me, in part because it is a reminder of the photo--and the opportunity--I never got. When my dorm mate got his roll of film back, we saw that his telephoto zoom lens had captured a blurry image of a black coat with fumbling hands in front of it. It was impossible to tell who was in the shot or what was happening.

I was disappointed. There would be no invitation to share my story with the king of late night and his viewers. My story would never be told in the Arkansas Gazette or Arkansas Democrat, all because I had said I only had one shot left on the roll, and my friend didn't advance the film to make sure, and only three of us witnessed Gregory Peck on his knees looking up at me.

But now--as another legend used to so eloquently say--you know the rest of the story.