Last Friday, NTT DoCoMo announced that it had a fresh new logo, and that this new design will become the public face of the company from July 1. I hadn’t been aware that DoCoMo was in any desperate need of a new logo, but given that the company has recently fallen below 50% of the mobile telephony market share in Japan, getting a facelift seems like an effective way to generate PR and buzz. What current problems with the DoCoMo brand is the new logo intended to fix? Speaking at a press conference, President and CEO Masao Nakamura had this to say:

Currently, it is very difficult to differentiate ourselves from other carriers in terms of technology—which we have so far focused on as a selling point. It’s becoming more important to meet individual customers’ needs. Ultimately, customer loyalty and word of mouth bring in long-term contracts and new customers.

This sounds well thought out and reasonable. However, how does the new logo actually address these problems? Is DoCoMo also planning on a major overhaul of its management, marketing and product lines? More to the point, what does it tell us about DoCoMo as a brand?

Implementing the new logo will apparently cost the firm 10 billion yen this year. One team I wouldn’t like to be on is the group setting up benchmarks and metrics for measuring the return on investment in the new logo.

DoCoMo’s press release on the new logo