Why Was the New GAP Logo Not Accepted by Consumers?

Well I’ve been quietly sitting back observing the last few weeks as GAP launched its new logo. There was first a flurry of news about GAP launching a new logo. A week later there was a flurry of news about how consumers hated it and now GAP has decided to stick with the old logo. I’m kind of curious about what transpired at GAP. Why did they think they needed to change their logo in the first place (Brand refresh)? Did they check with their customers? Did they show the new logo to their customers to get their reactions? I’m assuming they did. So how did they show it to them?

I know that companies like GAP spend lots of money on market research. So where did they go wrong? How does this kind of blunder happen? How many signs did they already change? It’s not just what they spent to have the new logo designed, it’s all their signage and print materials and bags etc. I’m guessing that was all in the works and they pulled the plug. How many millions of dollars were spent and how many wasted? Equity is important whether you’re a large business or small one.

Read more -> How to conduct a Brand Refresh?

This recent brand blunder reminds me of what happened with Tropicana a few years back. Someone thought that taking away the orange with straw on the package would create a more modern feel. Consumers were outraged by this. (with twitter, consumer outrage comes to life quickly these days) The company ended up pulling the new packaging from the shelf and putting back the old. Often well meaning marketers and designers design for the sake of designing without enough knowledge behind a new design. I’m curious to know what kind of research (domain research) methodologies were used in both of these cases. They obviously did not get an accurate read.

The lesson here. be very careful with brand equity and before you consider a big change, ask! Consumers often don’t like BIG change. There are ways to get around this – we call it an evolutionary approach – slow subtle change over time. You can hire Unboxfame i.e. Brand Naming agency Business Naming Agency as well Product Naming Agency. So lessons learned, as always know your difference, and when considering change, know your equity!