People have been wondering whether the introduction of the Gap’s new logo and the subsequent outcry were part of some PR stunt that the company had shrewdly put together. Apparently not.
The old logo is back (after the outcry) and the company has learned a tough lesson about the new world of social media. As I previously wrote:
[The] logo-creation process and the subsequent reaction reflects the transition from the previous era to the new one we’re in now. The logo was developed “internally” and “top-down.” It would have been better for the Gap to solicit input on a new logo proactively before rolling one out. But use of the “old” process put the company on the defensive, though it has been very good about communicating around the new design — after the fact.
Gap North America President Marka Hansen made the following statement yesterday:
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.
This was Gap’s “New Coke” moment, which is the first time in recent memory that a big product rollout was rolled back after the outcry of consumers. And that was in the pre-social media era (1985). Coke introduced New Coke in April, 1985 and by July, 1985 “old Coke” was back — three months later.
By contrast social media now provides instant feedback and Gap’s reversal came about a week after the new logo was introduced.
October 12th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
Actually, this is Gap’s “Tropicana” moment!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/23/tropicana-scraps-redesign_n_169016.html
October 12th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Touche
October 12th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
[...] Gap's 'New Coke Moment': Old Logo Back: People have been wondering whether the introduction of the Gap’s new logo and the subsequent outcry were part of some PR stunt that the company had shrewdly put together. Apparently not. The old logo is back (after the outcry) and the company has learned a tough lesson about the new world of social media. As … – Readmore [...]
October 12th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
[...] Gap's 'New Coke Moment': Old Logo Back: People have been wondering whether the introduction of the Gap’s new logo and the subsequent outcry were part of some PR stunt that the company had shrewdly put together. Apparently not. The old logo is back (after the outcry) and the company has learned a tough lesson about the new world of social media. As … – Goto Articles [...]
October 12th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
[...] Gap's 'New Coke Moment': Old Logo Back: People have been wondering whether the introduction of the Gap’s new logo and the subsequent outcry were part of some PR stunt that the company had shrewdly put together. Apparently not. The old logo is back (after the outcry) and the company has learned a tough lesson about the new world of social media. As … – Readmore [...]