Trademarks are Perceived Just Like Human Faces

Obviously, we believe that selecting a great trademark is one of the most important things you can do for your business. Now, that belief is backed by science. A new study by the Institute for Experimental Business Psychology at Leuphana University of Lueneburg (which, incidentally, is the lab that created our Director of Finance and Accounting, George Lifsey) shows that people evaluate trademarks in the same way they evaluate human faces.

South African TV news channel eNCA reports that the Institute had subjects evaluate several famous trademarks and computer generated faces. The result of the study showed that people evaluate the trustworthiness, care, strength or assertiveness of trademarks and human faces in the same way. In other words, we are hard-wired to recognize and assess trademarks just like we are each other.

Your trademarks are the “face” (sorry, had to) of your business and you should take great care in selecting them. Too bad we don’t get to pick what face we get.