Logitech: We don’t want to be “that mouse and keyboard company” anymore

Logitech has announced a major rebranding, which will see the firm shake up its company culture and product range.

The most obvious change concerns the Logitech logo. It has been radically altered, with the abstract, odd-looking eye completely dropped. The font is friendlier, all letters are now lower case, and the “g” almost looks like it’s smiling.

The Swiss company says it wants to be more modern, friendly, open, approachable and simple, and a heavier focus on design will be of utmost importance.   

“We’ve been reinventing Logitech for a while,” said Logitech president and CEO Bracken Darrell. “We’re putting design at the centre of everything we do. Our products have come a long way, and now it’s time to bring the brand forward too.”

We spoke to Charlotte Johs, Logitech’s global VP of brand development, who echoed Darrell’s words.

“Design has become as important as engineering,” she told TrustedReviews. “We are design-led. We are focused on design.”

Moving forward, Logitech says its products will be deliberately eye-catching. While the company’s biggest focus has traditionally been PC-centric peripherals, it now intends to put aesthetics right at the top of its list of priorities.

The new Logitech logo

The company doesn’t appear to be doing this by halves, either. Walking around Logitech’s Cork offices, we noticed that all meeting rooms are now named after famous artists, including Picasso, Warhol and Cézanne.

“We want to be at the intersection of art and science,” said Johs.

However, she adds that it would be a step too far to push the new Logitech as a fashion brand. “Maybe eventually,” she tells us, but that certainly isn’t the current state of affairs.

Johs also says that the transformation was largely triggered by the decline of the PC market, which wounded Logitech. When asked, she concedes that the rebranding might never have come about if the PC was still going strong.

There were a number of internal issues too.

“The company was too hierarchical before,” said Johs, adding that Logitech had become big and clumsy, building hundreds of products for everybody, yet nobody in particular.

Related: Logitech G602 Gaming Mouse review

The company has been trying to turn things around for several years, but Johs reckons it’s now in a good place.

“We didn’t need an evolution, we needed a revolution,” said Johs. “We don’t want to be known as ‘that mouse and keyboard company’ anymore.”

“Less is more” now appears to be Logitech’s new mantra, although “more is more” could also be applied. While embracing a larger range of product categories, the company will flog fewer products in total.

Johs says that Logitech will now split its business into three areas of focus: trees, plants and seeds.

Trees represent the profit-maximising PC-centric products that are Logitech’s staple. Johs says that these will continue to fund the company’s future.

Plants, meanwhile, signify Logitech’s gaming, video collaboration, speaker and peripherals portfolio, which the company says it needs to nurture and grow.

Seeds are more exciting. While the company hasn’t yet provided any specific details, it says it’s currently trying things it’s never done before, and will soon launch a number of brand-new product categories.  

To do this, Johs says it had to adopt a startup mindset: intending to fail or succeed quickly, and then move on to the next project.

She adds that no product categories will be dropped, but under-performing areas – such as webcams and headsets – will be “streamlined”. Keyboards and mice are still selling well, according to Johs, but will also require some tweaking.

Logitech’s new “Logi” branding

Brand-new products will be bold, colourful and sold under the new “Logi” label, as Johs believes that “tech” is now so customary that spelling it out to consumers just isn’t necessary.

However, the company’s official name will remain Logitech. For now, at least.