The Gap Logo, Proving Branding Matters

Branding matters. Nothing should be more evident after the Gap logo fiasco of the last week. In case you were sleeping at the virtual wheel here is the lowdown in short;

The Gap decided they were going to spring a new logo on the masses after 20 years, the logo you see above on the right. The public, or more specifically the online public, were appalled at the new logo, unleashing their rage on every blog post, twitter account, and website they came across. The new logo "sucked" in short. No love for the little blue gradient box. Theories of a marketing stunt were issued, but later denied by the Gap. Designers worldwide cried foul, fans of The Gap threw fits of rage, it was madness. The logo even got itself a Twitter account to correspond with its adoring fans (@gaplogo). No one was happy.

Fast forward a week and what do we have? A press release for The Gap stating that the company would be reinstating its previous logo, yep they caved to the overwhelming pressure. All it took was one week of outcry over a logo to convince a large clothing store chain to alter its branding. Thats the power of a brand, and a logo more specifically.

This is not the first in a recent string of bad logo events to take place. There are a number of recent examples to pull from. One recent and huge branding change came from The Pepsi Cola Company. They went from an iconic red, white and blue logo to something that resembles an odd smile. People were not happy and remain unhappy but Pepsi has stuc with it (after all they did pay somewhere in the range of $1 million). During this rebrand another Pepsi product got a new look, Tropicana orange juice. The iconic straw in the orange image was gone replaced with some generic looking orange liquid image. again, the people were not happy. Sales plummeted to the effect of -20%, not good. Pepsi reverts back to the old iconic juice box and watched sales level out again. All of this because of the picture on the packaging.

It is very clear that a brand, and with that a logo, has an incredible effect on the people that follow it. It is more than a mark, an icon, a font and a colored box it is an identity that millions of people respond to. It effects a consumers buying habits and dedication to a brand. Emotions play a part in our buying habits, whether it is a feeling warm nostalgia or negative experiences. We react to a brand, we are drawn to a brand, and we are disgusted at times when a brand changes.