This is it! Hereby we present you the official and permant logo for the Eurovision Song Contest! Minutes ago the logo has been presented during the Turkish national final, broadcasted by TRT.

Good old times…
We were used to it… every year, the host country of the Eurovision Song Contest designed a logo dedicated to the contest they were organising. Simple until the nineties and more creative in the past years, revealing the contest's logo was a special moment every year, especially for the fan community. This year, the logo launch is a special one. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) decided that the contest needs a recognisable trademark, which returns every year. This means that, from now on, the Eurovision Song Contest logo will not be changed every year anymore. Only minor details are subject to change!

It's all a matter of marketing
In 2003, the EBU appointed marketing agency T.E.A.M. (Switzerland) to take care of the marketing strategy of the Eurovision Song Contest. Their experiences with the marketing of the Champions League and the UEFA Cup were important for the EBU, as they searched for a company with enough experience to be able to handle this job. Developing a strong logo was part of the marketing plan.

The explaination
The core elements of the new logo is the word Eurovision and the red heart instead of the v, which “represents the emotion of the event”, which is the generic logo. The

heart is the changing element in the logo, which means that this year, the heart is wearing the Turkish flag. When the Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Spain for example. the heart wears the Spanish flag, and so on (the so-called visual applications). There are also blank designs of the logo (without flag in the heart). The heart is also a core element in the Eurovision Song Contest's programme elements, such as score board and name tags (which contains the name of the singer and the song title), also a visual application.

Under the word Eurovision you can of course find the words Song Contest. To appoint a particular year, for example 2004, the next line says Istanbul 2004 or Turkey 2004. There is also a version of the logo where the heart is placed above the word Eurovision (the so-called event logo).

Do you remember?
In 2001, the Danish broadcaster DR also decided to use a heart as core logo element. The 2001 heart existed of four rings, together creating the outlines of a heart. The description of the logo was quite identical to the new logo's description, but it must be stated clearly that the new logo has a very different look and feel.

Simple: is that good?
The first impression of the new logo might be a simple one. Marketing directors and designers all over the world discuss about wether a logo should be simple or not. Some say that a simple logo is far more easy to recognise, while others think that a simple logo might give a cheap impression.

Now, it's up to you! What do you think of the new Eurovision Song Contest logo? Your opinion is more than welcome!

The Eurovision Song Contest logo is an official trademark of the European Broadcasting Union. Usage of the logo is only permitted after permission as stated in the 2004 rules for the Eurovision Song Contest..