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October 13, 2010
To Crowdsource or Not to Crowdsource? A Brand Change?
The news that Gap has scrapped its logo allows us to draw a few lessons in naming and branding in the age of crowdsourcing.
First of all, we are quickly learning that a massive negative reaction to a branding initiative on the various social media channels can bring an entire campaign to a halt.
The power of the Internet seems to be growing daily. But I should add that almost every big initiative taken in the world of branding catches flak in the blogosphere, on Facebook and on Twitter.
Social media is the perfect vehicle for knee jerk criticisms and cheap sarcasm.
It is rare that people tweet good things about an ad campaign unless there is a humorous, viral aspect to it. Any large company who makes a big change in its brand is going to have to deal with negative feedback. People just do not take to the blogs and social media to flatter marketers and agencies alike.
This leads me to be somewhat skeptical about crowdsourcing. A blog up on 1 to 1 Media presents crowdsourcing as something companies have to adapt to in the face of "changing times."
This seems convincing at first blush: after all, even said companies like Unilever have embraced it.
But I'm not sure that this is entirely correct. Yes, there have been some dramatically successful crowdsourcing projects, like the DEWmocracy campaign. But right now companies seem to all too often try to use crowdsourcing to patch up a branding campaign that people online seem not to like.
Crowdsourcing a branding project throws the entire thing open to non-professionals. This is why there was a concerted movement on the part of some designers to not get involved in a Gap Do Over Attempt.
Mule Design put up a wonderful post that outlined all the things that the average Tweeter does not do, like talk to a client's customers, shop assistants, and marketers.
Or realistically thinking about where the new logo has appeared: "Online. Offline. From small print ads, to bus posters, billboards and corporate identity systems."
The average person visiting a website to kill time just doesn't do these things. They think about what looks cool. For about five minutes.
Technorati Tags: Gap, Crowdsource, Social Media
Posted by William Lozito at October 13, 2010 8:05 AM
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Branding
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