The GAP logo debacle

3 Nov

It was plain to everyone that the new GAP logo could only be described as absolutely horrible. In an attempt to somewhat “modernize” the logo, the esteemed brand decided that a rebrand was in order. However, once the general public got wind of this transformation, the world of social media began to explode with the cries of horror from concerned customers and designers alike. What’s the deal with the ugly logo? Why the change? Why those colors? That font?

The website CrapLogo.me even parodies the new logo and gives its users the ability to create their own logo using the tagline “Why hire an expensive firm to rebrand?”

Nevertheless, GAP smoothed the entire disaster over by eventually reverting back to their own logo.

“Since we rolled out an updated version of our logo last week on our website, we’ve seen an outpouring of comments from customers and the online community in support of the iconic blue box logo.

“Last week, we moved to address the feedback and began exploring how we could tap into all of the passion. Ultimately, we’ve learned just how much energy there is around our brand. All roads were leading us back to the blue box, so we’ve made the decision not to use the new logo on gap.com any further.

“At Gap brand, our customers have always come first. We’ve been listening to and watching all of the comments this past week. We heard them say over and over again they are passionate about our blue box logo, and they want it back. So we’ve made the decision to do just that – we will bring it back across all channels.

“In the meantime, the website will go back to our iconic blue box logo and, for Holiday, we’ll turn our blue box red for our seasonal campaign.

“We’ve learned a lot in this process. And we are clear that we did not go about this in the right way. We recognize that we missed the opportunity to engage with the online community.  This wasn’t the right project at the right time for crowd sourcing.

“There may be a time to evolve our logo, but if and when that time comes, we’ll handle it in a different way. “

http://www.gapinc.com/public/Media/Press_Releases/med_pr_GapLogoStatement10112010.shtml

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