Forget The Logo, Gap Is Crowd-Sourcing Its Whole Business Plan

Posted by Abe Sauer on October 8, 2010 01:00 PM

There is always that one fundamental contrarian who wants to make a splash by going against near-uniform opinion, such as declaring kittens "horrible." At times, that person has been me, even more frequently that person works for Slate.com. But in the case of Gapocolypse™, that person writes for Time.

The "comfortable middle-class" media outlet comes to the defense of Gap's redesigned logo, going so far as to declare that its NewsFeed blogger "personally does not mind Helvetica, and so this new logo brings to mind visions of a streamlined, technologically dominant future America where everyone wears white suits and cool glasses."

Time's blog post goes on to note that the brand has turned crisis into opportunity, calling Gap's desperate PR spin calling for design input to crowdsource the new logo "an additional card up their sleeves."

This idea that Gap is looking for consumer input on a logo that will represent a new direction, a "change," of the brand is echoed by both Gap's president and its corporate communications VP, who both speak of the logo "starting a conversation." Yet, as brandchannel commentor Gunter Soydanbay astutely notes, "Forgive my ignorance, but have they issued a formal design brief? They say, the company is changing and they want the new logo to represent this change. But what is this change is about?"

Gunter is absolutely right that without any kind of even mildly specific strategy or direction, crowd-sourcing anything is a futile exercise. Unless Gap is actually suggesting that the brand is crowd-sourcing a business plan.

Good grief, is Gap crowdsourcing a business plan? Because it's sure beginning to look like Gap is crowdsourcing a business plan.

In the end, the branding industry should see the Gap case study (although its creative agency Laird & Partners isn't likely to release one) as a cautionary tale. The takeaway for brands in is that even professionals can't always be trusted, so do the research and ask as many questions as possible in the process. Surely, somebody at Gap must have had doubts about this.

Editor's Note: We'd love to hear your thoughts now that the firestorm has died down — tell us (specifically) what you like or don't like about Gap's new logo in our debate room.

More about: Logos, Gap, Fashion, Retail

BRANDING=m3 says:

well said, abe! it will no doubt be a lesson taught in the classroom too, where it's often demonstrated that ignorance and enthusiasm are dangerous ingredients in any undertaking, let alone one involving an iconic logo redesign.

October 8, 2010 02:48 PM #

Gregg Lewin says:

I think, Mr. Abe Sauer, that you are being a little anal about a logo that means very little in the grand scheme of things. I didn't like it when they changed the logo from it's original into the very haughty previous incarnation. It gave the "GAP" the right to start over-charging for clothing that was no better than Levi's. I used to buy at the "gap" before (when they were lower case) in the early to mid 80's when they were good quality at a better price than Levi's. Now, I'll just have to stick with my Levi's that I can get at Wal-mart because in this economy price makes might!!!

October 8, 2010 08:43 PM #

Gunter Soydanbay says:

While I am not categorically against the idea of crowd-sourcing your logo (http://bit.ly/bLwTHd), I think what GAP has done is very dangerous. There are certain things that consumer should definitely be consulted (type of jeans, colours of garments, fabric quality, store's layouts etc...). Then, there are certain things that senior management should decide. Should GAP issued a bullet-proof design brief before launching their new logo, and had designers all around the world submitted their designs, we would be talking about how GAP gets Web 2.0. Now we are talking the fact that they act like they don't have a game plan. What do you think?

October 9, 2010 10:31 AM #

British Contrarian says:

GAP is simply valuing their logo design at what they believe it is worth: nothing. Expect other major marketers to soon follow suit.Then expect crowdsourcing to be employed in many other areas of marketing, advertising and design where active professionals were once paid for their talents. And the beauty of it is this.. the same marketing managers who are now clapping with glee at the idea of no longer having to hire studios or agencies will learn soon enough that they, too, are equally replaceable by the "cloud."

Abe Sauer seems to have caught on first. Congratulations where they are due.

And to further prove his point, I suspect he's not as highly paid for his insight as a reporter or analyst might have been ten years ago. Could be wrong, of course, but we're at the point where people are now gladly giving away their talents for free to those who would gladly profit from them.

Fun times ahead.

October 10, 2010 08:59 PM #

A Sauer says:

Thanks for making me cry. The unintended effects of crowd-sourcing. One might even posit, Contrarian, that America's founding was just crowd-sourced Britain Imperialism, no?

But yes, this has already happened in journalism.

October 10, 2010 09:20 PM #

freelance jobs website design says:

Outsourcing is one of the best business strategy to solve all problems in your business and as business owners, you should always be responsible in your stuffs and improve of your company.

October 10, 2010 10:30 PM #

Franking Machine says: