Tesco Logo
The Tesco logo uses graphic design to promote instant public recognition.
The origin of the Tesco logo comes from Sir Jack Cohen joining forces with T.E. Stockwell to consolidate his success in market retailing. Then, as now, the, logo of Tesco was simply its name. A logo must stand out and be recognised by everyone; and what is more distinctive than a unique, snappy name? The first shop with "Tesco" emblazoned above the window opened in 1929.
- The uniqueness of the logo comes from the strangeness of the name. What other word in English sound like Tesco?
To be instantly recognised a logo must be simple. The simplest logo is, perhaps, the very first logo - the Bass red triangle. But this is too simple, not everyone immediately associates a red triangle with Bass. So, usually, in advertising, the red triangle is accompanied by the name of the company in a distinctive typeface.
- Tesco did not use a graphics symbol, but simply put the name 'up front' and used a very strong typeface - block capitals and underlining could hardly be stronger!
If you look at the Tesco logo in the left margin you can see how the company does everything to stress the name. The letters are red, bold, and upper case; and each individual letter is underlined! To advertise its services ("direct", "personal finance", ...), the defining word are tagged on using a different font, in lower case, and not underlined. This means that TESCO always stands out. It is crucially important that the basic logo stands out in any context, so even important information must not stand out beside it.
Tesco are masters of the "three word pull". You often see the words "every little helps" appearing after the basic Tesco logo in advertising. This adds up to a more powerful logo that combines the name with the main aim of the company, to sell goods at the lowest prices. The graphical impact is also greater, and may cause a reader to pause in contexts that use many graphical symbols (like a page with several adverts.)
- Of course, in some contexts it is better to stick to the one word logo - for example, at the main entrance to a Tesco store!
Tesco have some good variations on their basic three word pull, like "everything for Christmas".
