Wendy’s restaurant has refreshed their logo. In the new logo the word “mom” now appears in Wendy’s ruffled collar. Some say it is a subliminal message, playing off the connection between mom and home cooked food. The company says they didn’t intentionally include the word and didn’t even notice it.

While the Internet debates the issue, most of the articles I’ve seen about Wendy’s logo completely miss the point. According to the first article where I saw this reported, stores which have started using the new logo are seeing a 25% increase in sales.

Whether or not this has anything to do with the word “mom,” this does say a lot about the power of images and graphics in marketing. I’ve always been a “content” kinda guy, looking at images as not nearly as important. But a 25% increase in sales is hardly unimportant.

Perhaps the uptick has occurred simply because there is a new logo. When you’ve been driving by the same logo for nearly 30 years and it is suddenly different, it’s hard not to notice. If that’s true, once people get used to the new logo I would think the increase in sales will taper off, at least somewhat.

One thing is clear–people do pay attention to the visual aspects of your marketing message and changing those visuals can significantly change your results.