Earlier this week, we posted a blur Group blog debating whether or not Gap had got their heads around the Crowdsourcing model.  What was the strategy for their (ultimately doomed) logo change?  Over at blur Marketing, we were particularly interested to discover the viewpoint of guest blogger, Jeremy Orbell, a member of our crowd. Was the whole fiasco one big gimmick?!

I was interested to hear last week that clothes retailer Gap had ditched their new logo just six days after its launch. After falling sales in recent times the company had to do something to revive its fortunes but the new design was so poor I simply cannot believe that they felt that this was the image that was going to achieve the success they craved. It was as if it was deliberately terrible just to provoke a reaction.

Gap has nearly 300 stores in Europe and Asia, is valued at nearly $4 billion, and is reportedly the 84th most-valuable brand in the world according to an Interbrand study. Because of this the more I look at the rejected logo, the more convinced I am that this was simply a publicity stunt, a veiled attempt to generate media exposure. The original identity is still strong though it is quite obviously of its day, ie the early 90s. Maybe it is time for a revamp but their choice had nothing that would identify it as a major brand whatsoever. As one commentator had it, it look more like a logo for an IT firm.

What looks like what happened was that Gap marketers have set us a trap and by and large the public seems to have fallen for it. Facebook groups were set up condemning the logo with one such site rapidly attracting 5,000 followers with micro-bloggers on Twitter being equally damning. It’s telling that Gap themselves asked consumers to send them their ideas which makes it look like they were treating their brand, which has taken many years to develop, with little more than contempt. It’s not a colouring in competition!

Let’s face it- would Gap have got anywhere near the coverage they’ve received in the past fortnight if it hadn’t been for this U-turn? I admit it’s a dangerous game but the change has been for such a short period it’s unlikely any lasting damage has been done. It just means that when the time does come to bring out a new identity they better make damn sure they get right because they won’t get away with it twice.