Gap is looking to reconnect with today’s customer and become even more relevant. It needs to offer customers something that’s different, like the SoCal youth of Hollister or the edgy attitude of All Saints.
Gap has been about all-American basics and, in recent years, brands like American Apparel have done basics in a fun and sexy way. But are we tiring of the ‘all-American’ story? Gap needs more than just iconic American style to get people excited.
Crowd-sourcing new ideas in the wake of such heavy criticism could be their saving grace but co-creating logos feels so limiting in the grand scheme of collaboration.
By engaging in dialogue with the customer, Gap has a real opportunity to get under the skin of its brand and its customer, right now it doesn’t seem to know or understand them. This co-creation shouldn’t be just about logos but about its role in people’s lives.
It would be great to see this project go beyond image and start to act as a platform for participation, from create your own iconic t-shirts through to suggestions for future collaborations. Gap has a heritage in doing so with designers like Valentino and ranges like [RED] so there is something to build on and take further.
It’s time for Gap to be bold and brave with its future. It needs to stand out confidently with a new story to tell. Today’s news of Gap scrapping the logo shows a brand that is willing to engage and listen to its customers. After all in today’s world brand is less about what you say and more about what Google says it is. Some may argue the move has damaged their brand and its credibility in social media but by acting quickly they have an opportunity to do something more valuable than a logo competition.
Check out the 10kg of Estima potatoes as well as some cucumbers, corn and tomatoes that Stuart and our rooftop garden expert Paul harvested last last week.
I remember the freesheet wars a few years back when Londoners welcomed two new players to the freesheet market. It was a monopoly the Metro newspaper, London’s first freesheet, had enjoyed for far too long. What a media frenzy and what chaos outside the train and tube stations.
On Friday 18th September Londoners said goodbye to one of those new players, a News International title, the Londonpaper. I have to say out of the three it was probably my favourite. The layout, the news snippets, the trashy celeb column and the style sections rocked. But for bosses at News International, things weren’t so great. With distribution just over 500K (against the Metro’s 1.3m) the paper was reportedly losing its publishers £10million a year it was time to shut shop.
The closure of the londonpaper came at the time when News International announced their strategy to start charging for online content that has so far been available for free. From June 2010 titles such as The Times will charge users for their news, features and more.
So what do we think about the end of free content? I for one think if it’s worth it, people will pay. We’ve enjoyed over a decade of free stuff and now we’re drowning in so much free we don’t know the good from the mediocre but at least we expect the great from something we pay for and I believe publishers have understood this. I’d expect News International have thought long and hard about ways to offer high quality, super relevant and valuable content and services to readers once they start charging.
Today the Evening Standard, the capital’s only paid for newspaper, announced it will start charging zero to readers. Previously part of Associated Newspapers Group, sister to another freesheet, London Lite but now under new Russian owners it has decided to take on the freesheet market head on. So as one goes paid for, the other goes free. Interesting huh?
So what next for publishing? Is the future free or a combination of both?
So Cadbury’s have now decided to go one step further with their Dairy Milk ads and have released their first ever single, along with a full-length music video (see above).
I’m surprised more brands haven’t released more music. I can only think of Levis with Flat Eric … there must be some others. Always strikes me that brands with great stories can do more to spread the word and celebrate what’s special about them.
Anyways, back to this one. The video and track are as random and wonderful as ‘Gorilla’ and ‘Eyebrows’. Full of optimism, joy and cheekiness… music is a big part of the Dairy Milk expression but this time it’s not classics from Phil Collins or Queen.
‘Glass and a Half Full’ Productions have teamed up with Ghanian superstar Tinny to create ‘Zingolo’. A track that very much captures the heart and soul of Ghanian music and culture. The idea is about celebrating Dairy Milk’s Fairtrade status… didn’t even know it was Fairtrade…. as well as Ghana, the heart of their Fairtrade cocoa.
All profits from the single will go to CARE International, a charity that will fund education programmes in cocoa communities in Ghana.
