Harley Davidson Truck

On my drive home I pulled up behind this truck and instantly knew the company with only a silhouette of the logo. The ad had got me thinking about what takes a brand or ad to the next echelon of recognizability where they no longer need the logo and it is still immediately apparent who the company is. Benefits of reaching this point from a design standpoint are it grants designers more creative freedom with new ideas.

Some examples of companies that can, have done this would be McDonalds in taking away the text "McDonalds" below the golden M and Apple (for a while now) only using their brand logo of an apple no longer including any text below it.