I’m starting to think the new Gap logo was done horribly on purpose, in an effort to create a social media firestorm. The evidence…

• There was no press release issued from the Gap regarding the branding change.
• The new logo is just barely believable.
• The favicon logo on Gap’s website wasn’t changed (geek detail).
• The new logo wasn’t added to any of Gap’s social network channels (Twitter, Facebook etc.).
• After all the negative feedback on the new logo, they quickly posted this message on their Facebook page: “Thanks for everyone’s input on the new logo! We’ve had the same logo for 20+ years, and this is just one of the things we’re changing. We know this logo created a lot of buzz and we’re thrilled to see passionate debates unfolding! So much so we’re asking you to share your designs. We love our version, but we’d like to… see other ideas. Stay tuned for details in the next few days on this crowd sourcing project.”
• The new logo is really bad.

If my thinking on this is correct, it’s a risking move on Gap’s part. Create an online revolt, position their customers as heroes and stick with the original logo when they had no intention of ever changing it.

Either way, we’re talking about a brand that has been struggling to stay relevant. They need to take risks and it will be interesting to see if those risks pay off.

(Source: soupsoup)