DoCoMo has a new logo; increased market share to follow?
April 21, 2008
By Ken Worsley
We’ve touched before on the struggles facing DoCoMo, Japan’s mobile market leader. As the introduction of number portability and aggressive advertising and pricing campaigns from rivals AU and Softbank have driven DoCoMo’s market share under 50% for the first time since late 1998, the firm is at a crossroads. It has attempted to reassert itself as an innovator by launching a line of phones that emit scents, and is pushing the same kind of family discount packages on its website that Softbank has leveraged into market share expansion over the past year.
On Friday, however, the firm took a bold step forward by unveiling a new logo. Speaking at a press conference, President and CEO Masao Nakamura admitted that the firm has had trouble retaining its subscribers and put the blame square with its market positioning: “Currently, it is very difficult to differentiate ourselves from other carriers in terms of technology—which we have so far focused on as a selling point. It’s becoming more important to meet individual customers’ needs. Ultimately, customer loyalty and word of mouth bring in long-term contracts and new customers.”
On its website, DoCoMo announced that the new logo will be used from July 1, and had this to say about the logo:
The new logo’s color is red, which symbolizes the company’s energy and dynamism. The logo, along with other branding elements, embodies DoCoMo’s commitment to achieve customer satisfaction by understanding the needs of customers and building stronger relationships with them, and to maximize the creativity of the company’s workforce and remain a leading innovator in the mobile communications industry.
The logo and new brand slogan — Unlimited Potential, in Your Hand — also express DoCoMo’s commitment to offer high-quality, value-added mobile services and technologies that enhance human relationships and lifestyles.
The changes are the result of DoCoMo’s review of its branding and related marketing strategies after establishing the Corporate Branding Division in August 2007.
The idea that scent-emitting phones could turn a mobile carrier’s fortunes around was absurd. What of this new logo? The first striking feature is the all-lowercase rounded font, which really evokes more of a video-game manufacturer than a cutting-edge mobile technology leader. It’s a softer, friendlier logo, which does seem to evoke a feeling DoCoMo (or is it docomo now?) needs at the moment.
Although the logo does evoke a certain “Web 2.0″ feeling, it remains absent of the gradients and reflective shadows that would be necessary to land it on a page of Web 2.0 logo parodies.
Will a new logo alone be enough to boost DoCoMo’s sales and market share? Of course not. Hopefully for the firm it is a sign that a true reevaluation of its market position and perception is underway. It will take some time to tell…
Filed Under Business, Japan, Marketing, Telecom
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The placement of the “NTT” text is odd. It doesn’t really fit in the balance of the logo. It’s actually interesting that they left it in. Is it necessary to continually inform the consumer the docomo is owned by NTT? And is there even any positive benefit in that anymore?
[…] [via Japan Economy News] […]
Maybe NTT is planning to use the money it saved on redesigning the logo to put up extra towers so that customers can get better reception and use their phones when they’re indoors…?
Sorry, that was a bit snide. Softbank actually deserves most of the cheap-shots for weak reception.
Anyway, the new Docomo logo reminds me of some stuff from the 80’s. Some of you design folks might disagree, but “Lexington Broadcast Services” is one example that comes to mind.
Are DoCoMo’s “troubles” really related to its branding or logo? It seems as though money could have been spent in other places to give it a boost. It is still the market leader, and suffers mainly from lackluster marketing. I have to question the use of funds in this case.
That’s their logo? It looks like it took all of a few minutes to come up with. I hate to think what other designs lost out. My first reaction to the new branding is WTF? followed by boredom.
Hmm…I think this looks a bit better. It’s not perfect, but look at Softbank’s silly equal sign for a logo and it puts them in a good position. They do need to do something about their marketing though. They haven’t done enough with Anna Tsuchiya.
the CEO said: “Ultimately, customer loyalty and word of mouth bring in long-term contracts and new customers.”
So why not spend money trying to get that result? This new logo can’t be cheap to implement.
[…] What problems with the DoCoMo brand is the logo intended to fix? Speaking at a press conference, President and CEO Masao Nakamura had this to say: Currently, it is very difficult to differentiate ourselves from other carriers in terms of […]
The first thing that came to my mind when seeing this logo is
NTT must have used the same branding company as XEROX.
… but calming down the web 2.0 feel by not using gradient… as everybody is expecting now a days.
Then I remembered the late “Vodafone” and its all red trademark.
Because the red slot is now empty among Japanese cell carriers, let’s use it!… sort of logic?
CEO Nakamura rightly point to market positioning and lake of differentiation.
When do NTT start to differentiate itself when it use reminders from a company bought out by Softbank?
They need to make better phones, cooler phones, phones that people want to buy. The logo of a mobile firm means nothing. Brand the phones!
My quick Web 2.0 version (click to see fill size):
5 minutes with Photoshop…not really sure what I’m doing but Web 2.0 seems built-in to Photoshop effects.
Hopefully DoCoMo does do something about that website - I still don’t get why Softbank hasn’t YouTubed its commercials to have them visible on its site - oh right, it hired people who don’t want the ads seen outside Japan.
Anyway, if you’d like to Photoshop a new DoCoMo logo and have it posted here, feel free!
What a complete failure. This does nothing for their brand image whatsoever. Hiring a hot bikini model would be better. Who would you get?
Ref 7, not an easy question. Each of Japan’s mobile brands has put models out there as their public faces - though DoCoMo seems to subsume Anna Tsuchiya’s role compared to what Aya Ueto does at Softbank (which have been some of her best acting roles). Personally, I’d rather hang out with Tsuchiya, though she’s hardly a bikini model.
I believe that Yu Yamada was hired by Vodafone when they were here. Hard to argue, though though I dropped them like a dead weight. J-Phone was the best.
Anyone else see a coincidence here in that the new logo and facelift will take place at almost the exact same time the new 3G iPhone is scheduled to be released, and DoCoMo was the front-runner for the contract with Apple to distribute it in Japan?