No Longer Yours

The past week has seen news of brands making changes to their assets. First up, was Gap with their new logo. That only lasted a few short days, and then they went with the crowdsourcing idea to get people outside the organisation to volunteer their designs. Finally, all were scrapped and it's back to blue.

Needless to say, tonnes of moolah down the drain. And how on earth did that design got green-lighted in the first place? Ugh!

It's understandable that one would want to freshen things up around the house. And fix things up.  But why fix things if it ain't broke?

The thing is as a brand, that last question is no longer a decision you can make. Because in this day and age, you no longer own the house.

The Gap fiasco is a perfect example of brand democratization. The public "voted" and the new design was killed.


In the past, the only way the public could express their dissatisfaction towards a brand/product/service was via their wallets. Now, you don't have to spend a dime.....yet.  Just tell the world that you're unhappy, and if enough people agree with you, one can build a groundswell and things get changed.

Next up, the Burger King face-lift which actually started 2 years ago. A lot of money is going to go into this. Initial reaction is positive which of course means, a sales spike. However, some franchisees can't afford the hefty bill to refurbish.

But who knows? Maybe all they need to reconsider the investment is if enough customers demand for it.

The best thing about now, is that very quickly, brands can find out whether their customers "voted" for or against their branding decisions.  It's really much better if their customers feel something (even if it's bad) than to feel nothing at all.