In case you missed it, last week Walkers unveiled a major brand revamp, which the crisp giant claimed was the ‘biggest’ change in its nearly 80-year history.
A new hot honey flavour was announced, and a new logo was unveiled, with a ‘sun-inspired’ design that sees rays of light coming out from the middle.
According to Walkers, the design ‘champions’ the real ingredients and 100% Great British potatoes at the heart of every pack. But a brand expert has claimed that they might not be telling us the whole story just yet, and the new logo could have a hidden meaning.
Metro spoke to Zachary Estes, a professor of marketing at Bayes Business School, to get his thoughts on the refreshed look for Walkers, and he had an interesting theory that Walkers might start selling something other than crisps in 2026.
Why does he think this? Well, according to Zachary, there are only ever two ‘good’ reasons to change a logo.
The first is to simply update it, and brands will do this by making ‘small tweaks’ that won’t put customers off, such as simplifying the design to make it easier to see on a mobile screen.
But he claims that isn’t what’s happened here.
‘The new logo is definitely not simplified, and the slanted banner and barely visible sun rays will probably be invisible on a small screen,’ he says.
As such, he’s leaning towards the second ‘good’ reason to change a logo, which is to signal to customers that the brand is making fundamental changes.
‘Merely adding a new flavour obviously does not merit a whole new brand logo, which makes me think Walkers may have something bigger coming soon,’ Zachary continues.
‘The iconic yellow crisp at the centre of the old logo told consumers exactly what is inside, which is important when consumers don’t know the brand. However, when they do, it can be constraining. The old logo signals that Walkers only sells crisps.’
The expert goes on to point out that Walkers wouldn’t be the only brand to make a change like this, as we’ve seen it happen previously at Starbucks.
The Starbucks logo used to say ‘Starbucks Coffee’, but the word coffee was dropped from it in 2011 as the chain decided it wanted to sell more than just coffee.
Similarly, Dunkin’ Donuts removed the word Donuts from its branding in 2019, so it could offer more than just the classic sweet treat.
Zachary adds: ‘The new sun icon is not closely related to crisps, so it’s an odd change unless the brand wants to be more than crisps.’
And it seems he might be on to something, as Walkers themselves confirmed that we can expect to see big things from them this year.
Speaking exclusively to Metro, Wayne Newton, marketing director at Walkers, said: ‘It’s the start of an incredibly exciting year for Walkers – so watch this space!’
Safe to say our eyes are well and truly peeled to see what happens next…
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