Major changes

Can anyone guess what this logo is for? Yeah, it says "Gap" and we all know what the Gap is but this new logo doesn't feel like the Gap brand we are so familiar with. If you forget what the Gap logo for the last 20+ years look like, here it is:



This new logo is the latest "evolution" for the brand. They are updating products, rolling out pop-up stores and getting new hot designers such as Patrick Robinson. They aren't just creating this new logo for no reason. They actually did think it through when they made their design decisions. The logo is in line with the label on Gap's popular 1969 jeans line. The new logo is supposed to reflect that "For the last two years we've been working on evolving the brand identity for Gap". "The new logo is more contemporary and current and honors the heritage of the Gap brand with the blue box but takes it forward".

The plan is to roll out the new logo on the North American Gap.com site, create momentum, and feature it in the upcoming holiday campaign. However, there were tons of negative responses online. With 1,500 stores worldwide, replacing signage, updating credit cars, and changing employee name badges will end up costing a ton of money. The change of the logo is a huge decision and the brand doesn't want to lose sales because of it, like Tropicana once did. Tropicana came out with a new package design and sales dropped 20% between January 1 and February 22 costing the company tens of thousands of dollars. The new packaging was only on the market for less than two months. Sometimes it could be beneficial to ask consumers before making major changes like new packaging or logo design.



When I first saw the new Gap logo I didn't even know what brand it was for. The font is completely different and I think that's what threw me off. I hate the new logo. But I thought there must be something good about it. They wouldn't just change the logo for no reason so I wondered if other people thought it was terrible like I do or if I was just over thinking it. Turns out, other consumers also hate the logo. Gap posted the new logo on Facebook and got tons of negative feedback. This created debates and the brand was getting a lot of buzz. Gap has now said that they would like some logo ideas from consumers even though they feel strongly about the logo they already designed.

I think it's important for a brand to ask consumers how they feel about major changes like in this case. I mean, you have to make the consumers happy or else sales will go down. Any thoughts on how Gap should deal with this or new logo ideas for Gap?

Advertising Age