Xerox unveils new lowercase logo

updated 1:28 p.m. ET Jan. 7, 2008

HARTFORD, Conn. - Xerox Corp. unveiled a new logo Monday intended to scuttle its old image as a photocopier manufacturer and highlight its software, color printers and other technologically updated products.

“There has been a perception gap in the marketplace,” said Richard Wergan, vice president of worldwide brand marketing and advertising at the Norwalk-based office equipment manufacturer. “Xerox is still perceived incorrectly as a copier company. We do not make copiers.”

The all-capitalized corporate name in red, which has been in service in different versions for 14 years, has been replaced with a lowercase version. It also sports a red sphere marked by a white “X” laced with silver stripes.

In addition to the new logo, Xerox will use a variety of colors in marketing across numerous media, from print and Web to broadcast and interactive presentations.

Wergan would not say how much the research for the new logo cost, but said it was a “significant multimillion-dollar marketing investment.”

Angéle Boyd, a Xerox analyst and group vice president and general manager of Document Solutions in Framingham, Mass., said a brand change is “only a big deal if it’s matched with some other core change the company is making.”

“They have made significant changes in the last several years. Packaging and branding have not kept pace,” she said.

Xerox has improved its balance sheet and its debt has returned to investment grade status since 2001, when it was pulled down by billions in debt and an accounting scandal. It has introduced 100 new products in the past three years, made key acquisitions, paid down debt and repurchased stock.

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