The infamous gap re-brand

The recent news about how the Gap re-brand project shook out raised some interesting questions for designers. First was the issue was on "crowd-sourcing" to develop a new brandmark. I was very happy to learn that The Gap understands how important your brand is to the success and future of a company, and that it takes more knowledge and strategy to develop something that will reflect the company in a correct way. On the second hand this branding disaster showed how influential and integral your customers are to your brand, after all it is them who align themselves with the values of your brand culture and ultimately are the ambassadors for your brand. The other interesting issue that was insightful was the way The Gap introduced their new brandmark. It proved that a launch strategy plays a very important roll in a brands success as well. Consumers need to be educated the included on the big moves in order for them to support the culture. Surprise strategy has a place and is beneficial, but only if the is a smart strategic plan for action that follows. Lastly, you always can look at it like this, there's no bad publicity. because we are talking about them.