Rebranding Gone Wrong: Gap Keeps Old Logo
The Gap Inc. reverted back to its iconic blue box logo just one week after rolling out a new version on its Web site. Replacing the more than 20-year-old blue box logo with this design (pictured right) was originally intended to better coincide with the brand's updated image, but it instead evoked an outpouring of comments from customers and the online community in support of the iconic blue box logo.
The old logo has been reinstated on the Gap web site, and Marka Hansen, president of Gap North America, issued this statement shortly thereafter:
"Ultimately, we've learned just how much energy there is around our brand. All roads were leading us back to the blue box, so we've made the decision not to use the new logo on gap.com any further.At Gap brand, our customers have always come first. We've been listening to and watching all of the comments this past week. We heard them say over and over again they are passionate about our blue box logo, and they want it back. So we've made the decision to do just that -- we will bring it back across all channels.We've learned a lot in this process. And we are clear that we did not go about this in the right way... There may be a time to evolve our logo, but if and when that time comes, we'll handle it in a different way."
This isn't the first time a rebranding initiative has gone completely wrong in the consumer goods industry. Remember these mishaps?
Tropicana circa 2009: After a package redesign, sales of the Tropicana Pure Premium line dropped 20 percent, costing the brand tens of millions of dollars. After less than two months on the market, PepsiCo caved into consumer demand and scrapped the new packaging.
Coca-Cola circa 1985: The Coca-Cola Company was hit by consumer backlash when it reformulated its main cola line and unofficially called it New Coke. The reaction of the American public, who didn't necessarily want a "new coke" to begin with, was poor. After New Coke was deemed a major marketing failure, Coca-Cola returned to its original formula and re-branded it as Coca-Cola Classic.