This project consisted of a rebrand for “Steak Lover Rewards”, a customer loyalty & rewards program from Omaha Steaks, a century-old American heritage brand who has led the industry in direct-to-consumer beef for decades.
“Since it was a rebrand, you are always balancing the risk of alienating an existing customer base with the reward of getting them excited about the freshness they may benefit from”, says Colby Shenkle, who worked with the in-house team on the project.
“When the client was insistent upon the heart being featured in the mark, I knew we’d have to take an abstract approach. It’s a delicate thing when you are morphing a food item with a heart – too much realism is unpleasant. At the same time, though, an overly-abstract approach could disorient the existing rewards members. At some point you have to courageously accept a balanced level of abstract vs realism & then confidently move forward with your concept, knowing that success of a logo is not fully dependent upon an entire population’s ability to suss out the clever nuance”, he continued.
In other words, It’s OK if, to some, it just looks cool”.
Color became another exciting journey, but interestingly, literalism with beef-based tones proved to be the winner. Especially since the otherwise abstract approach of the mark disconnected the fact that hey – that’s the color of fat!
And what of the diagonal lines intersecting the mark? Project stakeholders struggled to accept whether it was supposed to be grill marks, a bone element, or some kind of nod to marbling. “All good options – it’s whatever you want it to be”, they were assured. Another reminder of the beauty of a careful abstract approach. Again, sometimes certain things just look good.
The final execution was immediately embraced & implemented successfully into the program. This logo refresh was only a small part of a complete rethinking of the SLR program. Nevertheless, it’s revitalized the program and stirred new customers to sign up.
If you've worked hard to build your business's reputation and appeal, all of that equity is now connected to your logo and other visual elements. Whether you are staring a new venture or revitalizing an existing brand, even the smallest nuance can make or break a logo.
