The company logo question

Reading back through the last post makes me think of another thing. Should a company's logotype and branding be present on every slide? The classic answer from a marketing department would be, yes sure, it's part of our branding, a chance to get the company name in front of many people, and possibly protects our ownership of the information on the slide. Maybe.

But what it sure does do I think is shout out: " Look, here, this is us! Check this out, we do all this great stuff. Look, I made the slide isn't it wonderful? And check this out, we do this and this, and make these great things, here's a picture of our building, here's a glossy photos of our products...".

On a slightly more serious note: the signal this sends is rather self focused and risks, at the very least, sending audiences into a minor coma when they see the same slide appearance again and again. The more prominent the logotype or slide background, the more tangible this effect is. When you stand in front of an audience as a speaker then YOU become the company's branding. What they think of you personally and what you say and show will directly rub off on their impression of the company. It won't help to have a big red or blue blob on the corner of your slides, but it sure might worsen the situation.

I have never been more aware of this than after listening to a superb presentation by a salesperson from a prominent molecular biology tools company some years back. As an expert on the subject matter, I happened to know that a lot of what he said was just pure rubbish, but his presentation was polished and extremely professional. At a coffee break afterwards I first heard people saying that HE was great and a very short time after, that the COMPANY was great. People very quickly forgot his name but they remembered the impression that he left. The glory rubbed off on the company and the product really quickly.

At the same conference a friend of mine was presenting his company and products for the first time as CEO. He gave an even better presentation! Same effect again. This all really left an impression on me and these are still the most clear examples of this phenomenon that I have ever experienced directly. I talked to my friend afterwards about the success of his performance and he said that he had practised that presentation until he was thoroughly sick of it. He had run through it in front of his boss a number of times, in front of colleagues even more and even his wife had had to put up with it.

So there you go, THAT'S how you succeed in making a mark for your organisation or product!

There aren't any shortcuts. Just put your logotype on one or two slides and make sure ALL the slides are good.