Earlier this month, Gap introduced a new logo to the public. The old logo, an iconic blue box with “Gap” printed in the centre was a pervasive part of American culture and an enormous part of the company’s positioning strategy. It was replaced temporarily with a much simpler design. Unfortunately, this new positioning strategy has not received desireable criticisms. As soon as the new logo was debuted on the store’s online shopping site, mobs of opinionated and angry consumers protested on Twitter and Facebook about how the new logo looked “lazy”, “unprofessional” and “dumb”. A few weeks later, after criticisms from design critics and customers, Gap rethought the new logo, revoked it and went back to the original one.
It seems to me that Gap is trying to build a more modern image in the consumers’ minds. The retail industry is competitive, especially when it comes to fashion, and new, trendy stores are opening daily. By ditching the old, 80’s style, “classic” logo, Gap is trying to become more relevant in the minds of young people. It seems to me that adoping this more sleek, modern logo is not a great way to go about it. Gap is known to be “classic”; excelling in basic clothing, nothing too flashy, nothing too cutting edge. Gap should expand on this marketing strategy as opposed to heading in a new direction.
However, according to brand experts, Gap may have ironically increased its brand loyalty despite this repositioning fiasco.