Saturday, October 09, 2010
Brands Behaving Badly
Bad Dog, Part I
Gap commercials of the 80’s used to sign off with the baritone-sung jingle, “Fall into the Gap.” Well, Gap Inc. has certainly fallen into something with the not-so-silent release (belly flop) of its new logo. The mark, comprised of Helvetica type and a fading blue square, has become the logo everyone loves to hate. Which begs the question: Is this some sort of joke? Or is this some genius move to stir interest in the flagging brand of a company that can’t find anyone to buy its stock let alone locate a decent graphic designer?
Adding insult to injury is the company’s bait-and-switch to rally a Facebook crowd-sourcing project to… what? Save the company from itself? Keep the Gap name in the spotlight through the all-redeeming holiday shopping season? If the whole thing was a ruse to lift sales, Gap is going to need to sell a record number of flat front khakis. If, however, the brand was realigned without a trace of guile then the retailer giant’s days are truly numbered because there’s a gap at Gap between management and perplexed patrons.
If there’s a silver lining in any of this it’s that the Pepsi logo is no longer the poster child of identity crises. Still, both brands (among many) leave us wringing our hands over the dearth of good corporate brand designers, and the lack of common sense of the people who hire them.
Woof.
Bad Dog, Part II
A Microsoft-Adobe marriage? Holy Matrimony, Batman! What’s the world of monopolist software coming to? If the rumors are true that the Rednecks of Redmond are considering a no-bullets shotgun exchange of vows with the Blushing Bridezillas of San Jose then “Mazel Tov!,” we say.
*breaks glass*
This is a match made in M&A heaven. Both companies lost touch with reality and customers long ago, and neither has had a breakout release since 2003. We wish them all the best as they drive—and fade—into the sunset.
*flings unopened AOL registration CDs at limo*
Follow up: From the And-There-You-Have-It Department, comes this gem. Sort of makes you feel bad for that intern at Laird and Partners, doesn’t it?
Join the conversation
Microsoft and Adobe? Nothin’ like having all your rotten eggs in one basket. They should also merge with Blackberry… and Chia Pet.
Evan | 10/09 at 10:15 PM
Both of these items were news to me, thanks for reporting on them. The Adobe CEO is a BGSU grad, so it is always interesting to see his name in the news.
As for a case like Gap, I never thought of it before that the “brand” was behaving badly. The company sure can behave badly, and that definitely affects the brand (as my experiences with the badly-behaving company add up, the brand suffers). And if the company has deep problems, it will probably surface in how it handles its logo. Sorta like a canary in the coal mine.
And I agree, it sounds like this “open sourcing” of a logo is a cover up for these core problems, not some new social media strategy.
Just like you can learn about the financial health of a large corporation by studying the information architecture of its public web sites, you can sometimes forecast stock price based on how it handles the corporate logo. Both the IA and logo are often signs of deeper problems.
Keith Instone | 10/10 at 01:58 AM