Posted by Rick Jackson
Chief Marketing Officer
At VMworld 2009 this past September, we rolled out an updated VMware logo as a predecessor to our overall re-branding efforts. The obvious change that most people saw and commented on was the absence of the “bug” – that part of the logo that is not our company name. I.e., “Where did the boxes go?”
The original VMware logo that contained the boxes, formally
referred to as the rings, first
appeared in 1999, and symbolized multiple virtual machines. It was simple, and yet incredibly
descriptive. The concept of
isolated, multiple machines running in a single environment has had an obvious impact
on the landscape of IT.
Now, as we look at our current offerings based on vSphere,
and our vision of delivering the infrastructure for unrestrained cloud
computing, the image we are portraying to the market has evolved. In fact, our message embodies the notion
of freeing IT from the constraints of
physical resources. Our vision talks to a common infrastructure fabric that
spans IT, from the desktop, thru the datacenter, and to the cloud. In short, our message and our vision
transcend the idea of boundaries, and extend beyond the box. What
was both a useful and familiar logo element for our first decade at VMware, now
compromises the underlying tone of our message. In fact, every branding firm we
engaged with during this process recommended this change, based purely on how
we described VMware and what we do.
We also decided that the use of a bug with our logo was not necessary. We believe that VMware, our valued and respected company name, stands on its own. Making a change of this nature is something that deserves considerable contemplation and consideration. But in the end, we felt it was the right thing to do. It is a recognition of the evolving value that VMware continues to bring to the market. And it is now up to us to illustrate the transformative value that VMware represents, in everything we do. I.e., manage our brand.