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There has yet to be a single item of collateral: a delivery truck, store signage, or even one miserable bag that’s showed up with the new logo. Meanwhile we’re
by aresant 16y ago
There has yet to be a single item of collateral: a delivery truck, store signage, or even one miserable bag that’s showed up with the new logo.
Meanwhile we’re talking about GAP on Hacker News, it’s held a spot in the top 10 in Google Trends since it showed up http://www.google.com/trends http://www.google.com/trends, and they rallied a bunch of customers who remembered how much they like GAP just like it is.
The cynic in me says brilliant PR stunt.
- callmeed 16y agoI feel the same but I also can't help but wonder—what if would have totally backfired and people loved it?
- blahedo 16y agoSounds like a win-win situation to me.
- coryl 16y agoErr, not quite sure its a PR stunt. The people mocking, critiquing, and blogging about GAP's horrible logo probably aren't their customers. It got attention because the logo they chose was just plain awful and laughable. I doubt they wanted this to happen.
- nodata 16y agoWeren't their customers. Isn't that the whole point? Worst case they get lots of gap jeans purchased ironically.
- rriepe 16y agoTo this day, there are people who believe that New Coke was a PR stunt. Often viewed as one of the biggest brand disasters in history, the New Coke quagmire actually had a great effect on Coke: It made people realize how much they loved the stuff. It's one of the reasons they're on top today. I don't quite agree with the statement "There's no such thing as bad publicity." But I do feel that branding fortune favors the bold, even if they're doing something foolish like this silly logo.
- SoftwareMaven 16y agoI saw an interview with Coke's CEO at the time about new Coke. His comment was that nobody at the company was smart enough to "plan" the new Coke fiasco.
- derefr 16y agoBecause it was a novel gambit at the time. Now I'd be surprised if you could find an advertising student who couldn't explain how to execute something similar.
- SoftwareMaven 16y agoNo, it was a marketing blunder followed up with some great marketing response. Gatorade recently did the same thing and are getting beat up heavily about it because they invested too heavily before finding out what their customers really were interested in.
- benohear 16y agoMy problem with that idea is that the design agency would have to have been in on it. I can't see them agreeing to put their reputation on the line without some kind of "it was all a stunt, we're brilliant after all" ending.
- brc 16y agoI don't think so - too much risk for it to be deliberate strategy. More likely is that it was an executive thought bubble that went wrong.