General Electric was formed in 1892 by Thomas Alva Edison (the name should ring a bell) and Charles A. Coffin. Since its early days of light bulb manufacturing, GE has grown into a gi-normous company usually categorized under the vague title of ‘device maker’. GE now manufactures everything from jet engines and locomotive (train) engines to home appliances and plastics to wind turbines, solar collectors and gasification equipment to specialized healthcare devices…to name a few. They even have financial products. Oh, and don’t forget light bulbs.

GE is huge. And they are old. Not that that’s a bad thing. There is a lot to be said for tradition and longevity in a company. But with a business model so large and spread so thin over so many technologies for so many years the company seems to have become a bit cumbersome. And hard to steer. And by steer we mean the dilemma of how a company like GE can continue to look focused and progressive to all of its customers, individual and business, all of the time. The job of GE brand manager must be one of the toughest in the company. Or are there 30 brand managers all obsessing about their own sector, going in slightly different directions? When thinking about GE what comes to the publics’ mind? Ovens or giant off-shore windmills? Jet engines or MRI machines? The light bulb or a GE commercial insurance policy? All of it? None of it? Maybe some? When a person thinks about Nike, as an example, what pops into their mind? Probably shoes with the Nike swoosh on the side. Well, one might say, Nike makes all kinds of sportswear and sporting goods, not just shoes. Yes, but the idea of well designed iconic shoes worn by basketball superheroes is a great starting point for accepting Nike into other areas of sportswear. A Nike swoosh on a soccer (football) jersey works because we think that the same technological standards and design rigor that went into the latest Air Jordan must have also gone into that jersey. And it also carries the unconscious weight of the icon of Jordan frozen in midair, ball poised for slam, tongue hanging out and Nikes kicked back. And don’t forget ‘Bo Knows’ and Marion Jones, etc., etc.

What do shoes have to do with GE? The point is this. When you ponder a new GE oven for your home do you think “GE makes quality jet engines so this must be a quality oven”? Doubt it. The stretch is too great. So, how then, does GE bridge this gap to make the company as a whole more cohesive to the public? The answer is obvious. Nike spends a lot of time and money on R&D for their products, which is great, but the Nike brand has cultural traction because of the superstars that wear the swoosh. We even spend more money for Nike stuff over other, similar, stuff because we want to ‘Be Like Mike’. What was that? Let’s restate it. We spend MORE money to buy Nike shoes over shoes done by a competitor. This is key. Especially for a U.S. company with a lot of pension promises out there. GE needs to convince us that spending more money for their products is worth it for some other reason than bizarro -world economics. How?

Well, a few ideas. First let’s talk about GE’s direction. Jeffrey R. Immelt, the current CEO has been in the news for the last few months talking up the environmentally friendly side of GE, terming it ‘ecomagination’ and pushing their clean energy products such as wind turbines and solar cells. This is fine but unfortunately it is doubtful that it is enough to keep the company afloat into the future. The branding push behind this new direction needs to be much more aggressive. Take for instance the GE logo. Not a bad logo as logo’s go… but it is old. When put alongside the logo for the Turino Winter Olympics, of which it is a financial backer, it looks like GE is the dull grandmother to Turinos’ young sexy snow bunny. The scripted type is nice but just feels a little dated. And slightly hard to read… especially if the reader, in this new global market, is not so used to the western alphabet. It’s a bit too traditional looking to really carry the message of ‘clean energy crusader into the future’. And no, making the logo green doesn’t pull it off. Or having a bug, a butterfly, a squirrel or whatever seen perched on it make it feel more environmentally friendly. It just looks like someone left the logo in the park. Why not take this opportunity of companywide refocus and launch an updated logo to go along with the eco-friendly idea? The old logo can always stay to represent GE’s core but the new logo representing GE’s grasp of the future should be more modern, more powerful feeling, easier to read and, for gosh sakes, it should include a beautiful iconic mark.

Why a mark? Well, think of the branding opportunity that those wind turbines represent. Those big breath-taking iconic wind turbines. They should be branded to send the message ‘look at how GE is leading the pack churning out clean energy!’ And they should be recognizable from miles away. Right now GE’s turbines say something like ‘GE Wind Energy’ in light colored type on the sides. Obviously so the environmentalists don’t scream about GE using the turbines as a billboard and ruining the view. But would they scream if a Nike swoosh were emblazoned on the side of it? Doubt it. Everyone loves the swoosh since it stands for speed, power, coolness …and celebrity. How about an icon who's message was efficient, clean power from a company that really cares about the Earth. And a leader in innovation (we’ll get to that in a sec). The public might not mind so much. Words bug people more than an icon. But an icon can carry the same meaning, if not much more, than a name or word can. So use an icon that can be spotted from far away. That way every time a photo is taken of a field of turbines standing in wind-swept waters, everyone will know it’s GE that built them.

Now for this idea of innovation. When you hear the name ‘General Electric’ does an image of the light bulb, that icon of innovation pop into your head? No? Thomas Edison? The father of one of the greatest inventions of all time (just below the wheel and just above sliced bread). Did you know he was one of the founders of GE? No? Didn’t think so. Why does GE not spin this story and spin it often? The story that GE was built on magnificent innovation and continues to be driven by magnificent innovation in all of its sectors. It has the potential to weave together all aspects of the company into a cohesive idea that people can grasp no matter what the product. If GE built it then it must be on the cutting edge of innovation. Make Thomas Edison the Michael Jordan of General Electric. He could be re-learned by the forgetful public as the energy superstar that personifies what makes the GE brand great.

GE, for the huge company that it is, has an opportunity to strengthen their brand with this new emphasis on clean energy. But it needs to be done in a well-designed, well-branded way to resonate with the general public. Make it powerful. Make it modern. And tell the Edison story because people love stories. And we will then happily pay more for it.