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What Can Brands Learn from Logo Design Fails?

September 1, 2016 By Aqib Nazir 11 Comments

We are bombarded by around 3500 marketing messages a day. Yet according to the Guardian, 99% of these make no impact on us. Marketers and brand owners strive to become part of the 1% that engage audiences and get us to look up from our busy lives.

Logo Design Fails

However, sometimes it’s important to be careful what we want. Many famous brands have their marketing messages scrutinized, thanks to their logo design fails.

Logos are not just pretty pictures that accompany a brand. They are visual representations of the brand’s values. A re-brand can therefore be treacherous.  We are fickle beings. The wrong design can lead your customers to abandon your product, causing devastating losses in profits.

Though many seek advice from successful business logo design companies and do succeed at creating wonderful, engaging logos, many fail. So what brands have endured logo design fails in the past, and what can we learn from their misfortunes?

Table of Contents

    • Tropicana
    • Gap
    • Olympics 2012
  • What Can We Learn from Logo Design Fails?
    • Communication Is Key
    • Test Your Logo
      • Aqib Nazir
      • Latest posts by Aqib Nazir (see all)

Tropicana

Tropicana Logo

Our first logo fail takes us all the way back to 2009, the year of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” and of the even more infamous new face of Tropicana. Tropicana’s logo, once a bright, juicy orange with a straw plunging into its core, was replaced with a clinical looking glass of orange juice. The picture was synonymous with the type of beverage you might be offered after giving blood.

The aim was to modernize the product with a surprise re-brand, but instead customers fled from this new design. Tropicana’s sales dropped by 20% instantly. In just two months, the brand was down $30 million in sales, not to mention the $35 million spent on the re-brand itself. The company had no option but to revert to its original, much-loved design in an attempt to appease its alienated customers.

Gap

Gap Logo

After Juice-Gate of 2009, it would make sense that other brands would not follow in the insane footsteps of Tropicana’s overnight re-brand. However, this was not the case. 2010 saw Gap undertake a shocking re-brand that took customers by surprise once again.

Gap had a long-standing identity that their customers recognized from the past two decades, and the company’s audience responded terribly to the launch of the new Helvetica font logo. This typeface is one of the most common fonts used globally, and incorporating it into the face of the brand diluted any visual uniqueness Gap held. Unlike Tropicana, Gap did not last two months with its new logo. The company lasted six days, with an estimated $100 million lost in the process.

Olympics 2012

Olympics Logo

Of course, it’s not always re-brands that lead to logo design fails; we can be left sniggering at original designs too. Our journey continues to 2012 with the Olympic Games, a world event that London had the coveted honor of hosting.

The intention was to represent the youthful outlook of the city: bold, spirited, and vibrant. However, the internet did not agree with this metaphor.

People instead likened the logo to an X-rated image, and the picture soon took on viral status. The logo cost £40,000 and took a year to design, but all that remains is the memory of the controversy.

What Can We Learn from Logo Design Fails?

Communication Is Key

Typically, the stronger our emotional attachment to a brand, the more negative our reactions are when companies change designs. Tropicana and Gap failed to let their audiences know they were re-branding, which was their crucial mistake. We internalize brands we love. When we see the face of the company change, we automatically think the brand is changing too – and not taking us with it.

Before undertaking any logo redesign, it’s vital to communicate with your customers. Tell them what is happening  in order to make them feel valued.

Test Your Logo

Logo design can often become all-consuming. Make sure the design is tested methodically with the demographics that are going to engage with it. This is where the Olympic 2012 design failed and ultimately left the design team embarrassed.

Logo design has the ability to resonate deeply with your chosen audience, but the waters are murky, so always remember to tread carefully. And if the design seems self-indulgent, it probably is!

 

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Aqib Nazir

Aqib Nazir is a father to a beautiful son, husband to an amazing wife and son to a great mom with a passion for IT. He is an IT consultant, a Web Developer and Digital Marketer. He writes for Business.com and The Huffington Post. If you are interested in starting a blog and make a living out of it, stop by http://aqibnazir.com/
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Filed Under: Marketing (WOMM, Inbound) Tagged With: brand reputation, Logo Design, logo design fails, rebranding

Comments

  1. Rabia Munir says

    September 7, 2016 at 10:11 am

    Hey admin
    Nice effort for this. I am appreciating your effort for this work wish you best of luck for the future.
    Rabia Munir would love you to read ..Happy New Year’s Eve 2017My Profile

    Reply
  2. Mark says

    September 6, 2016 at 9:33 pm

    Excellent points Aquib!

    Surely the experts, advising both the Gap & Tropicana organizations,
    learn some potentially profitable lessons going forward.

    When it comes to effectively communicating with their target audience,
    and less time, sitting in closed meetings brainstorming with each other.

    Hopefully, businesses, large & small, were paying attention as well!
    Mark would love you to read ..Who Says Crafty Entrepreneurs Can’t Make Really Big Money While On A Luxury Cruise!Part TwoMy Profile

    Reply
  3. deddy darmawan says

    September 6, 2016 at 9:07 am

    last point : test your logo

    it is very appropriate , logo testing before the official launch many give good feedback.

    regards
    deddy darmawan would love you to read ..ELANG-ALAP CINA, CHINESE SPARROWHAWK, ACCIPITER SOLOENSISMy Profile

    Reply
  4. Taufeeq Umar says

    September 5, 2016 at 5:21 am

    Its really amazing to know about the logo design fails, very much helpful information. Thank you so much for this great blog post.
    Taufeeq Umar would love you to read ..TOP-5-10 Engineering College In Uttrakhand-DehradunMy Profile

    Reply
  5. Darrell Harris says

    September 4, 2016 at 3:44 am

    Aquib
    Great post ! It was insightful and very informative. Even though I have two beautiful logos on my two websites, we as business people can forget how powerful a logo can represent the company. Again thanks for this valuble post it was a great read my friend.
    Darrell Harris would love you to read ..4 Clever Audio Apps to Connect With Your ReadersMy Profile

    Reply
  6. Max Lichard says

    September 3, 2016 at 1:59 pm

    Hey great post!!
    You are right for any brand logo design gives the best representation of that brand. Thank you for sharing this post.

    Reply
  7. Azeem says

    September 3, 2016 at 9:25 am

    Very informative post Thank for all the great tips you shared in your insightful article.Thanks for the wonderful information you have given and it truly helped me a lot

    Reply
  8. Abid Bhatti says

    September 3, 2016 at 12:46 pm

    Hi Aqib, such an amazing facts about logo design. Thanks for sharing this wonderful stuff it’s quite helpful.
    Abid Bhatti would love you to read ..6 Smart Strategies for Website BeginnersMy Profile

    Reply
  9. Golam Qauser says

    September 3, 2016 at 4:48 am

    Hi Aqib,

    Thank you so much for the wonderful information you have shared and it truly helped me a lot .
    Golam Qauser would love you to read ..How to Remove Background from a Picture Using Photoshop ?My Profile

    Reply
  10. Ajay Garg says

    September 2, 2016 at 3:33 pm

    Thanks for the wonderful information you have given and it truly helped me a lot TO GROW MY BUSINESS ONLINE IN THE WHOLE WORLD.

    Reply
  11. Yahya Ayyash says

    September 2, 2016 at 2:14 pm

    Great post! By reading this post i remember some quotes from batman movies.
    “Why do we fall Bruce? So we learn to pick our selves up”
    Yahya Ayyash would love you to read ..Nutscation v2.0.0My Profile

    Reply

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