Tip of the hat to Sheila Shayon for her post titeld, “Nokia Rewrites Brand With New Font” for talking about the brand and font changes to the Nokia brand.

From the post: “Nokia has chosen a typeface redesign in an effort to re-brand the company. Out with Nokia Sans and in with Nokia Pure, a new font created by London-based typographic designer Bruno Maag specifically for digital devices…..The new font is part of Nokia CEO, Stephen Elop’s brand overhaul as the company moves off its two indigenous platforms, Symbian and MeeGo, in favor of a new partnership with Microsoft using Windows Phone 7. The effort is to develop a product that can compete with Android devices from HTC, Samsung, and Motorola.”

Why the Change? What Impact Will it Make?

As we’ve talked about in previous brand-related postings (ConAgra |  Company Re-branding), making changes to popular, established brand identities is a tricky thing. People get emotionally attached to brands and the products the brand represents. Even though the product quality may not change, the market’s perception of quality can be impacted (positively or negatively) by simply changing a font or a color in a logo. Nokia, which manufactures and sells a lot more than just mobile phones (in case you did not know), is making this seemingly simple font change out of necessity to help improve its most popular and lucrative product line’s performance. However, anyone that has been a part of a re-branding knows that there is no such thing as a simple re-branding effort…and if you know of one, please let us know the secret!

What we do know from years of experience is the logistical challenges Nokia is about to face during the transformation of its brand identity will not be easy. Surprisingly, switching over actual product branding and sales and marketing materials (e.g., point of sale signage) will be relatively easy compared to the mammoth task of rolling out the brand change to exterior signage (dimensional letters and logos) on the company’s office buildings and distribution centers world-wide.

Let us know about some of your brand change experiences and we’ll post the best and give you the inside scoop on some of our biggest challenges.