Love it or Leave it: Amazon logo

Amazon recently made headlines when, in an interview on 60 Minutes®, its founder Jeff Bezos unveiled a project whereby Amazon aims to make some deliveries via drone.

However, when I watched the video it was clear to me that the media missed the biggest star of the 60 Minutes piece: the Amazon logo. The logo was everywhere — every package, on the shelves behind Bezos, on the drones, and more. And the logo is one of the best of the last 20 years.

The logo is great because:

• it is clean and simple
• it is unique
• it is a smile with a dimple
• it is a subliminal A to Z (look where the arrow starts and ends)

The logo communicates three things to me:

• Smile: be fun, be happy.  You will like shopping with Amazon.
• Move, travel.  The arrow (sometimes used by itself) represents what Amazon does best – moves product using its innovative warehousing and shipping methods.  When your order from Amazon you expect your order to travel from the computer to their warehouse to your door step quickly and smoothly.
• A to Z.  A subliminal message, perhaps, which I had not consciously noticed until writing this post.  Amazon carries everything, from “a” to “z”.

Because it is playful and tells a story of the brand, the logo is very good.  The logo has evolved over the years.  A fascinating history of the Amazon logo here: http://www.kokogiak.com/gedankengang/2004/07/amazoncom-logo-timeline.html

Backstory: Apparently Amazon once had to fight and settle and trademark case with a bookstore that had been around since 1970 called Amazon Bookstore Cooperative.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Bookstore_Cooperative

Amazon’s name and logo are unique and capture its brand story well –  a giant retailer selling and shipping everything from “a” to “z”.  As a result, I love it.