After being constantly attacked last week for ruining their logo, Gap decided to revert back to the old logo that everyone knows and loves. They admitted that is was a wrong step for the company, and that the customer comes first, which is great. They should come first, but at the same time, Gap didn’t handle this situation at all like they should have. When creating a new identity, you should never simply poke it out there and say “Whatcha think ’bout this?” Rebranding a company as large as Gap should be strong, dominant, and should be handled by a professional.
The part that really bothers me the most is that you would think with all of the embarrassment, Gap would have definitely learned their lesson with this situation. After reading their statement regarding the situation and reverting back to their old logo, I was convinced otherwise.
“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.”
I have an idea, how about not using crowd sourcing at all?! How about you budget some money into marketing, and hire a real design firm or branding specialist to guide your company in the right direction. For a company of this size, I am very disappointed in the fact that they have resorted to such infantile methods of marketing.
It’s no wonder that their stores are pretty much empty. At my local mall, I went in to the store to see why it was so empty, when the rest of the mall was so full. I went in and looked around, to see the same old clothes that you always see, and I never saw another single person come in the store for the 30-45 minutes that I was there. I saw no promotions, no sales, nothing to create a buzz around Gap. There is always a huge buzz around Old Navy, so the Old Navy Division has a decent marketing team. They need to take a page out of their book.
I can’t help but say that Gap is in serious trouble. Seemingly no marketing, no promotions, no big sales, no appeal. They tried to rebrand the company, which was weak and ineffective. It looks like Gp needs to go back to the drawing board on all accounts, otherwise 20 years of tradition is going to go down the drain. Gap, if you are out there, there are plenty of professionals out that that would be glad to strengthen your brand.
