Wow. The Gap tried to unveil a new logo, presumably to herald a bold new direction with its brand, but no dice. The huge consumer backlash generated on Twitter and Facebook in response to the new logo shows the power of social media to give a major voice to a brand’s believers. These days, if you’re an established brand, consider ways to involve your customer in major decisions like rebranding, so your customers don’t feel like you’ve left them out in the cold. Talk to your most passionate brand advocates, what do they want?
But, to play devil’s advocate, involving too many cooks can spoil the soup. How do you involve your customers in major branding decisions, while being able to move forward? Do you involve them in steps along the way, but in a very focused fashion? I think that would be the best approach. Give customers a chance to have a choice in the matter, tweet options along the way and get votes for their favorite.
Which reminds me, there is a GREAT book called “Brand Hijack” that speaks to this very phenomenon, the idea that brands are driven by customers’ interactions and not by decisions made entirely by the corporation in question. Case studies for companies like Doc Martens, Birkenstocks, and Red Bull are all highlighted as examples of how brand image were driven by customer needs and wants. Which, I think, is the true essence of a brand.
Read more:
On Mashable:
Gap Reverts to Original Logo After Social Media Backlash
On AdAge:
i agree. it has been amazing how much publicity their new logo received. i think part of the reason for all the media is that many people didn’t think the logo was “good,” but also because the gap is such an iconic brand. like you said, it is hard to please everyone and the company has probably learned that they should engage their customers in the process or at least tell people along the way that it’s coming so there isn’t so much of a surprise.
It is shocking to see the amount of reaction among the social media crowd on the Gap logo issue. First they turned to crowd-sourcing to see what Gap consumers wanted to see from the new logo and even allowing them to send in their own logo creation ideas. Now, they seem to be backtracking completely and returning to the original, well-known, and apparently well-loved, Blue Box GAP design. Perhaps, if they had looked into crowd-sourcing and consumer engagement before the logo changes there would not be such a mess of criticism.
But in a case like this, does the saying “any publicity is good publicity” holds true? While there is mainly criticism and negative remarks toward the careless, out-of-nowhere rebranding strategy, there is no denying the mass amounts of media coverage Gap has gotten. It will be interesting to compare sales and revenue data through the upcoming holiday season compared to previous years.
Yes, I agree with both of you. When you have a big iconic brand, it’s very hard to move or change without losing someone along the way. Also, social media is a relatively new force for everyone to deal with, I think companies are learning as they go, as for how to best engage consumers while making very big decisions that impact their brands. It’s an interesting case study that everyone can learn from, for sure.
When a company has to rely on outside input from unknown quantities to be in touch with their consumers, they’ve lost their way. Listening too much to social media feedback is exactly where that leads many companies~ like you said, Giannina, too many cooks in the kitchen.
By the time a new logo is unveiled, any company should be so confident of their choice – because they did their homework – that regardless of post-launch feedback they can stick to their guns with the knowledge that they’ve made the right choice, with a logo that will stand the test of time.
If people reject it, call them critics and move forward. There will always be critics, and always be people resistant to change.
In Gap’s case, I wondered if it was all just a publicity stunt, but the existing logo does have an 80s vibe to it.
Staying in touch is not rocket science, and it doesn’t take social media. Sure social media can help, but honestly, in-store surveys would be far more effective.