brand identity

Not A Good Week For Visual Identity, Was It?

First came the all new Gap logo

 

 

Lots of people didn’t like it. I think it’s a wonderful example of how insufferably bland something can be made when it’s so obviously designed by committee. Strangely enough they’re not using it as a favicon on their website yet, where it would be more legible than their ‘old’ logo. Slate points out that this old logo is not actually the original Gap logo, the one shown below is.

 

There seems to have been a certain amount of backpedalling already, which means Gap may be heading for a Tropicana moment.

 

But now, even before the dust has settled on whether anyone really cares that much about the Gap logo, poor attention-starved MySpace has waded into the fray with its very own new logotype.

At least people might talk about how confusing it’s likely to be to its audience, rather than how cheaps it looks I suppose.

Brand vs. Brand Relationship: Let’s Not Confuse Them

http://www.theharteofmarketing.com/2009/08/brand-vs-brand-relationship-lets-not-confuse-them.html

“People tend to identify with a brand (i.e. logo, message, etc.) first and then they relate to it. I think it explains why there are so many fake bags (Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Kate Spade, Hermes, etc.) not to mention other products on the market. It’s not that people relate to the company that owns the brand it’s that the brand (in this case a logo) gives them a perception of inclusion without the sting of the price tag.”

I think this makes an awful lot of sense, and shows that there is a need for traditional branding as well as brand relationship management in contemporary marketing. In many ways I feel that community management is now responsible for the customer retention aspect of traditional marketing (and obviously a lot more than that).

Reputation Management for Affiliate Marketing

http://www.toprankblog.com/2009/01/reputation-management-for-affiliate-marketing/

“Affiliates become the “face of the brand” for those consumers interacting. However, in many cases, there are very specific limitations to brand name use and both merchants and affiliate networks need to monitor what’s being promoted and how. It’s important to know about how affiliates are using brand names and whether there are anti-marketers or infringement issues. “

Oh, I’ve seen this happen, and the results were not good. Brands need to keep a very close eye on how they are being represented by any affiliates they use.

The linked articles on digital reputation management / online reputation management are worth a look as well.