So the Gap just issued a press release consigning their new logo to the oblivion formerly reserved for New Coke. It’s a victory for people who care about brands, as well as people who care about this brand. Let’s take a moment to commend the Gapfolks for their responsiveness.
OK, moment’s over. Now let’s thank them for showing us all the limits of crowdsourcing or whatever you want to call getting people to give you intellectual property for free. If you put an infinite number of monkeys in a room with an infinite number of word processors, I suppose one of them will eventually write Hamlet. But if you can’t wait forever, you’re better off hiring Shakespeare.
If the Gap had done their homework, they would have recognized the value of their logo. If they had gotten sound advice from a consultant, they would have left it as is. If they had developed a better new logo and presented it to the public in a more proactive way, they might have been able to make a change without looking like an infinite number of monkeys.
I’ve heard some people suggest that this was all a clever ruse to attract attention. Gosh, I hope not. Hustling the public like a two bit pool shark is not the sort of thing we want our favorite brands to be about.
Let’s just forgive and forget, shall we?