By now everyone knows about the Gap branding fiasco.
For some reason, the company decided it was time for a new logo. The public revolted against the mediocre design, and after attempting to "crowdsource" a new logo on Facebook, the company gave up and scrapped the whole thing.
Something similar is reported to have taken place at General Motors this summer, though nobody outside the company has seemed to notice. According to online articles, the Chevrolet division was trying to drop the name "Chevy." Henceforth, only the complete name "Chevrolet" would be used. One article reported that employees had to put a dollar in a jar every time they used the name Chevy.
The day after reading these articles, I watched a Chevy commercial on TV. Yes, a Chevy commercial, about Chevy trucks. For more information, visit www.chevy.com.
Luckily for GM, the Chevy brand is so strong, not even the worst marketing decisions can kill it. It's in our culture for pete's sake ("Drove my Chevy to the levy"). Chevy is living the dream of every company trying to build a brand. So why in the world would they want to change it?
Most brands aren't Gap or Chevy, of course, instantly recognizable around the world.
On the other hand, every company has managed to make its name in the marketplace with whatever name and logo it happens to own. Every ad, press release, pdf and business card has been quietly building a brand that people know and remember. That's a sizable investment no matter how you look at it, and the cost of changing it can be enormous--in dollars, distractions and possibly public embarrassment.
Even when brands are suffering--high fructose corn syrup or BP, for instance--they can't easily get away with a name change in today's instant media world.
The moral of all this, I believe, is that a brand is not just a design or a word that you can change because of this year's marketing numbers. It's who you are.
More often than not, brand old is better than brand new.
