When Monkeys Rule the Wasteland

A month ago Steve Jobs unveiled the new logo for iTunes, which swiftly prompted reactions that ranged from ‘horrible’ at worst, to ‘meh’ at best. The new logo unveiled by shopping mall mainstay The Gap, however, couldn’t aspire to ‘meh’ on its best day. And the new myspace logo? Yikes. The Gap’s subsequent explanation that this design was simply the start of a crowdsourcing project seems more like a calculated (and cowardly) afterthought than the original impetus behind unleashing this abomination on the world. Yet even if the new logo was a stroke of creative genius, the loudest voices on the web would ultimately be the ones critical of the new design. Indeed it’s become increasingly hip to create fake twitter accounts for logos, where some snarky and self-important comment troll can hijack a company’s marketing efforts with a mere 140 characters. Is such immature, yet often amusing reaction what every company should now expect when relaunching a brand?

What’s wrong with kids these days?

I read an interesting article on ‘Millennials’ this weekend.  Millennials, born between 1980 and 1993, are now all of college age and entering the workforce, and their reception has apparently been disappointing. Many business owners have characterized them as spoiled, disinterested malcontents with a poor work ethic and over-bearing, over-involved parents, Does this come as a surprise, given the environment they were raised in? Many of them were raised in a middle class American dream that will in all likelihood never be possible for them to achieve on their own, if it’s even the lifestyle they desire.  As they’ve grown up in the era of Fight Club, Y2K, the Millennium, The Rapture, and the Mayan Calendar… can we blame them for their bleak world view?  Sales of the Left Behind series alone should have indicated this trend. The lack of jobs – particularly meaningful, fulfilling jobs, political and cultural stagnation, and the abundance of prescription drugs, ecstasy, and pot certainly won’t do much for one’s motivation or sense of self-worth.

A similar trend began gripping the young men in Japan ago, when their economy first began to stall.  The term ‘freeter’ was invented to describe these 20-somethings who lived at home with their parents without any prospects for work or marriage. Megumi Ushikubo, president of a prominent Tokyo design firm penned a book titled The Herbivorous Ladylike Men Who Are Changing Japan specifically addressing these young men and their impact on society. We can only expect something similar in American, where a growing disenfranchisement with the mass-marketing American dream has led to similar behaviors from many of the Millennials. Any city dweller in America is no doubt familiar with the ‘freegans’, young people who, by choice, choose to live of the waste (aka garbage) produced by Western culture. I see them every week, outside Trader Joe’s, waiting for the trash to get curbed.  Lately, there’s even been a queue. I guess if you’re gonna eat garbage, it’s wise to go for the gourmet garbage.

While the freegans are a fringe group, their disillusionment transcends the entire generation, manifesting itself in a variety of forms. Some Millennials reject society’s norms, some escape into fantasy, role playing, TV and video games, and some just want to get wasted, hook up, and party, yet they all are very vocal when expressing their discontent.  This has very troubling consequences for any brand looking to change it’s image.

This is NOT the complaints department

While criticism is essential for progress and evolution, mean-spirited, hateful complaints are never welcomed, especially when these voices fail to offer any positive feedback or solutions. People love to complain, and while this isn’t anything new, or even generation-specific, the Internet and the 24-hour news cycle have given these voices undue clout. Just as pundits who are the most polarizing get the highest ratings, blog authors who are the most harsh and critical are better able to show off their own cleverness, and thus draw in more readers. And when you mess with what people love, you must anticipate an overwhelming negative reaction, no matter how smart or well-designed the changes may be. People are instinctively resistant to change, and this holds true for the brands they buy - just look how Coke suffered when they changed the formula!

Mere minutes after unveiling their new logo, the Internet was flooded with criticism of the Gap’s new design. Following this failed update with a campaign to crowdsource a new design, however, does bring up an interesting idea. It absolves the Gap of any responsibility for the final design decision.  Not only does it guarantee them the ‘most popular’ logo is chosen, but it directs any negative feedback onto the people who voted, not the Gap itself. It also opens up the field for those critical of the new design to put their own designs to the test. Is there a single designer in the world who wouldn’t jump at the chance to design the Gap’s logo?

In that regard, it’s a brilliant idea… draw attention to your brand, then draw the audience in by giving them the power to choose.  It’s American Idol meets your marketing campaign.  If you can only expect bitter and negative reactions to your rebranding efforts, regardless of how exceptional they may be, then put the change on your customers. Who can they complain to when it’s their own damn fault? 

Ultimately, the brand managers at the Gap responsible for this undertaking and for the direction their brand will take, and they shouldn’t expect anything more than mediocrity if they lack the courage and the confidence to make the correct decision themselves.

What’s the worth of design?

Just as Outsourcing premieres on NBC (five years too late), we’re seeing the rise of a new evil beast – crowdsourcing. While at first seeming fun and innocuous, crowdsourcing truly represents the worst of all marketing trends. While outsourcing sought to find a more cost-effective way to manage a business’ bottom line, the result meant shipping American jobs overseas and a negative public reaction, especially after being on hold for 18 minutes.  Similarly, crowdsourcing seeks to find the cheapest possible way to produce something, but instead of cash and a career, the reward is notoriety. 

Indeed amongst millennials, fame has become a form of currency.  All one needs is a big ass and a sex tape, apparently. Note this article where Conan O’Brien addresses how he is confronted by younger fans who insist they will one day be famous, but have no idea for what. Not surprising from a generation raised on Paris Hilton. Survivor, American Idol, the boys from Jackass. Add in Jack Black’s ascerbic and mean-spirited sense of humor, and everything becomes crystal clear.

Indeed, stock in creative professionals seems to be plummeting right now. Writers, actors, photographers, now designers are feeling the pinch industrial workers felt years ago. The attrition began with programming and design jobs being outsourced to Eastern Europe and Russia for rubles on the dollar, and has only gotten worse with sites like 99designs, cheap stock photography, templated website designs, and drag and drop editors. Creative professionals like myself, who actually know how to produce clean valid code and perfectly rendered print designs, are beginning to be supplanted by rank amateurs with little or no training or expertise, simply because they work cheap.

Talentless Git? Want to build websites? There’s an app for that.

While this bottom dollar may work for the work-at-home individual or personal side business, it’s never been tried on such an epic scale for such a large company. And while any designer would be tempted by the notion of designing the Gap logo, it ultimately undermines the profession as a whole.  Not only is the Gap getting design for nothing, they are going about the design process the wrong way.

It’s truly a cowardly marketing effort, for instead looking inward and reflecting on their brand, they are asking the customers to tell them who they should be.  They are caving to peer pressure in a last ditch effort to boost what were truly horrible sales figures last quarter.  This isn’t creating allure, it’s creating pity.  The truly sad thing is that they may actually get a decent logo from this campaign, though instead of it resulting from introspection and self-determination, it will be the product of throwing shit at a wall and seeing what sticks.

More than likely, the Gap will wind up with another hackneyed, mediocre, and altogether uninspired logo… and somehow that feels just about right.

A month ago Steve Jobs unveiled the new logo for iTunes, which swiftly prompted reactions that ranged from ‘horrible’ at worst, to ‘meh’ at best. The new logo unveiled by shopping mall mainstay The Gap, however, couldn’t aspire to ‘meh’ on its best day. And the new myspace logo? Yikes. The Gap’s subsequent explanation that this design was simply the start of a crowdsourcing project seems more like a calculated (and cowardly) afterthought than the original impetus behind unleashing this abomination on the world. Yet even if the new logo was a stroke of creative genius, the loudest voices on the web would ultimately be the ones critical of the new design. Indeed it’s become increasingly hip to create fake twitter accounts for logos, where some snarky and self-important comment troll can hijack a company’s marketing efforts with a mere 140 characters. Is such immature, yet often amusing reaction what every company should now expect when relaunching a brand?