How Much The World's Most Iconic Logos Cost

romet6

Member
Just saw this and thought I'd share...
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/how-much-the-world-s-most-iconic-logos-cost-companies-to-design-them-151333867.html
Twitter: $15
"Twitter bought rights to the now-famous Twitter bird for $15 on iStockphoto. Artist Simon Oxley, a British citizen living in Japan, might have only received $6 for his work—without a credit. However, the bird has undergone a recent makeover."
Nike: $35
"'I don't love it, but maybe it will grow on me,' Knight said, after doling out $35 for the swoosh."

Talk about cheap buyers : )
I hope that everything on that page isn't common knowledge to you guys.

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BP: $211 million
"According to Stock Logos, BP spent 211 MILLION DOLLARS for its logo design in 2008."
"After the oil spill, BP had other image problems." :)
 
I didn't know the BP one. It's almost unbearable to read about this kind of stuff. I think that more than anything, it points to why the original business owners of these massive companies are so successful. They clearly have an eye for finding a diamond within a heap of rubbish, which is no doubt what helped make their companies so successful. If Twitter wanted a rebrand now, it would probably cost over a thousand times the original amount simply due to their size.
Business to business pricing for services such as design is often based more on the size of the company and what the service provided will achieve for the client, rather than the standard of the work involved... Does anyone recall the 2012 London Olympics logo...? ;)
 
Ah good point. So the bigger the company the greater the cost? Question: apart from the physical replacement of the logo, why do you think it would cost so much more for them to rebrand? For example... making a completely different bird logo icon and make it pink (obviously hypothetical and that would never happen...) - wouldn't it just be a case of swapping it on the site? (talking financially here)
The only thing that frustrates me is people (clients) could turn around and be like 'well, twitter and nike only paid 10$ for their logos...'
Was the 2012 Olympics logo something like £250,000?
 
GilmoreVisuals said:
Ah good point. So the bigger the company the greater the cost? Question: apart from the physical replacement of the logo, why do you think it would cost so much more for them to rebrand? For example... making a completely different bird logo icon and make it pink (obviously hypothetical and that would never happen...) - wouldn't it just be a case of swapping it on the site? (talking financially here)
The only thing that frustrates me is people (clients) could turn around and be like 'well, twitter and nike only paid 10$ for their logos...'
Was the 2012 Olympics logo something like £250,000?
More towards £400,000 I thought. A hell of a sum for what was provided.
"The only thing that frustrates me is people (clients) could turn around and be like 'well, twitter and nike only paid 10$ for their logos..."
Good point, but I think these are the odd exceptions, there are always counter arguments I suppose, the accenture logo was reportedly created for $100,000,000:
3e618.png
 
There is one thing to consider, though:
"Price comparison is rather misleading as most will be including rollout across all use. In BP's case for example all vehicles, forecourts, offices and literature etc."
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"people (clients) could turn around and be like 'well, twitter and nike only paid 10$ for their logos..."
That may be so but...
"Oxley’s bird design remains on the site where it can be licensed under the same terms Twitter received. Nothing is stopping people from making sites that ape, mock or build upon Twitter using its own official graphic."
When you purchase a logo, you would be paying for all the rights to it as well, so that you could use it anywhere.
Stock graphics have more expensive licensing options when people want to use them in print and make unlimited copies for any purpose.
Once you pass all the rights to the client, they can also trademark the logo and they would use it on all of their ads, business cards, websites and probably on the products themselves. The logo makes it easy for people to recognize their company and products and if they want to try to make it work with a ten dollar logo, then so be it.
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Oh and it was $35 in the seventies - "equivalent to $184 today."
Also, "later Nike gave 500 shares of stock to the designer, which is now worth over $600,000."
Wikipedia has a bit different story, though:
"In September 1983, nearly three years after the company went public, Knight invited Davidson to a company lunch. There, he presented her with a diamond ring engraved with the Swoosh, and an envelope filled with an undisclosed amount of Nike stock. Of the gift, Davidson says, "this was something rather special for Phil to do, because I originally billed him and he paid that invoice."
 
Certainly some good points there, interesting story at the end too. So they got married?
 
Paul Rand agreed to design the logo for Steve Jobs's Next Computers (his company after he left Apple) Rand did it for $100,000 under the proviso that it would provide one design and no revisions. I might try that...
12-Years-Ago-Today-Apple-Completed-the-Acquisition-of-NeXT-Computer-2.jpg
 
Sean Lee-Amies said:
Certainly some good points there, interesting story at the end too. So they got married?
I don't think it was that kind of ring, but more like an award for what she has done.
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$100,000 ... I might try that...
Why not just ask for a half of the company?
[After 10 minutes in MS Paint] "there you go, now for the payment.." : )
 
romet6 said:
Why not just ask for a half of the company?
[After 10 minutes in MS Paint] "there you go, now for the payment.." : )
Yes, it is rubbish isn't it. Still, I do like the idea of creating a logo in MS Paint, it would be quite a challenge. Maybe the next df comp Tony?
 
But if we did that, we'd have to abandon the comp planning we've already done ;)
 
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