This week, Gap quietly began rolling out a new logo: an odd blend of Helvetica typeface and a blue gradient box. Almost as quickly as the logo appeared on Gap.com, critics began slamming the new logo. The Consumerist comments, “the marketing geniuses at The Gap seem to have fiddled around with Photoshop for a few minutes and designed a new company logo that’s as bland and uninteresting as jeans and a black t-shirt. It’s not ugly, but it’s not memorable or creative, either. What were they thinking?” A fan on Gap’s Facebook page comments: “New logo lacks imagination-it’s as if I designed it!”

Gap surely realized there would be a backlash amongst brand loyalists. Let’s face it — getting rid of a 20 year old logo isn’t an easy thing to do. But is the logo ugly on purpose? Was it that Gap knew the new logo was so boring and run-of-the-mill that critics would immediately start talking about it and spur a renewed interest in the suffering brand?

Let’s face it, Gap has been doing some interesting promotions lately. On Groupon.com, Gap was the first retailer to launch a national promotion — one that resulted in the sale of 441,000 groupons and $11 million dollars in revenue. Then, last November, Gap turned a Vancouver store upside down — literally — overnight to promote its new loyalty program.

Most of the criticism of the new Gap logo has taken place on Twitter and Facebook — neither of which have been updated with the new logo. On Facebook, Gap responded to its more than 690,000 fans with a post stating: “Thanks for everyone’s input on the new logo! We’ve had the same logo for 20+ years, and this is just one of the things we’re changing. We know this logo created a lot of buzz and we’re thrilled to see passionate debates unfolding! So much so we’re asking you to share your designs. We love our version, but we’d like to see other ideas. Stay tuned for details in the next few days on this crowd sourcing project.”

Despite the countless articles, Tweets and Facebook posts about the logo, my gut says this isn’t Gap’s the final resting place.

Last weekend, I was lucky enough to stay a few days in Boston at the brand new W Hotel. Besides being an awesome hotel, and having some awesome company for the weekend (my best friend since Kindergarten!), the W Hotel is also an awesome lesson in branding. Everything — and I mean everything — was representative of the W brand. Even the extra roll of toilet paper in the bathroom was touched with a piece of the W Brand. My three favorite touches:

1. The floor mats in the “lifts” are changed three times a day with messaging reading Good Morning, Good Afternoon and Good Evening. According to one of the bellhops, they are changed at 1 am, noon and 5 pm.

2. The minibar contained everything from an “Ouch” kit (first aid) to an “Under Cover” umbrella to a “Pleasure” kit with…well, you fill in the blanks on that one. Even the snickers and peanuts were given the W look. (Luckily, the W prices kept me far away from indulging in any treats!)

3. I mentioned this one over the weekend on Facebook, but my favorite W touch was most definitely the coffee table book of W properties. In it, a “Where Was I” bookmark marked the page of the Boston property. A great touch.

Check out our slideshow of all the W touches below, or on Flickr.

This morning, as a part of National Design Week, the DC chapter of AIGA presented a workshop on Building Online Brands. The workshop, moderated by William Cosgrove of Threespot Media, is part of AIGA DC’s regular Salon series, which we have written about previously. In this workshop, Will took the group through two redesigns his firm worked on and talked about how a Website redesign is often an ideal time to evaluate who the organization is and where the organization wants to be.

In the case of Planned Parenthood, for example, after some soul searching, the organization realized that they needed to be more approachable to their younger constituents while not ostracizing their donors and supporters. With the help of Threespot, they created an updated version of the logo, selected a new color palette and chose stock photography that reflected the variety of races, ages and sexual orientations of the men and women they serve.

Before

After

For Brookings (formerly known as The Brookings Institute), redesigning their Website also meant renaming the organization. The tired logo was refreshed and a new tagline was introduced. For inspiration, Threespot worked with the organization to find existing print pieces they liked, and used those elements to inspire the new design.

Before

After

In addition to these two real-life redesigns, the group also discussed how the user experience is a critical aspect of a brand. Take, for example, Virgin America. Everything from the check-in to the cocktails served on the plane to the ticket purchasing experience is a reflection of Virgin America’s brand. Virgin is clean, fun, relaxed and fresh. Every touchpoint of their brand mimics these characteristics.

Dustin Curtis, a user interface designer, recently threw the proverbial “design grenade” at American Airlines after a poor experience attempting to book travel on their existing site. Curtis redesigned the AA site and sent it off to AA executives with a letter.

Sure, the redesign looks great. And Curtis makes some valid points in his email about the user experience. But does a redesigned Website mean that American Airlines will be able to compete with the user experience customers on Virgin America receive? NO. Absolutely, most certainly, NO. In fact, American Airlines current Website as cluttered and chaotic as it is, is far more reflective of the customer’s actual experience. American Airlines responded and they shared that their issue is an issue many organizations face:

“The group running AA.com consists of at least 200 people spread out amongst many different groups, including, for example, QA, product planning, business analysis, code development, site operations, project planning, and user experience. We have a lot of people touching the site, and a lot more with their own vested interests in how the site presents its content and functionality.”

Is hope lost for American Airlines and organizations facing similar issues? No. With some soul searching and a candid conversation with the Website stakeholders, American Airlines could begin to change the customers perception of their brand. And if they continue working as a team to make their touchpoints a consistent, calm, smooth experience, then American Airlines can change the perception of its brand.

Conferences are great — there are endless networking opportunities, lectures and workshops by industry leaders, and the chance to re-energize worn-out batteries. But let’s be honest, one of the best things about conferences is what’s available on the tradeshow floor — the “swag” (or stuff we all get). These are the items attendees covet; and often the only thing that makes it back to an attendees’ office. But how many logoed BIC pens, magnets and mints can one person use?

We asked Mike Harper, account executive and promotional product genius, at Summit Marketing to provide some unique ideas for promotional products that are sure to get noticed on the tradeshow floor and that will keep your brand in front of your customers long after they’ve left the floor.

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Slinky Adhesive Notes
Budget: $1.99-$1.23 each
100 Sheets

Slinky® adhesive note pads feature alternating glue and reminds everyone of their favorite childhood walking toy. Each note has repositionable adhesive at the top. Works like a sticky note, fun like a Slinky®.  Must be ordered in increments of 500.

Slap, Wrap & Go Cooler
Budget:  $1.79-$3.99 each

Slap n Wrap beverage insulators are the only Coolie on the market that can fit cans, bottles, glasses & more. The patented Slap n Wrap effect allows it to grip almost any container without falling off. The large 2.5″ x 7″ imprint area allows for a billboard logo that will be recognized easily.

Biodegradable Anti-Bacterial Wipes Canister
Budget: $1.95-$1.65 each
Blue or Lime Cap
Recyclable dispenser contains 30 biodegradable antibacterial wetwipes. Wipes are lavender scented.

Relax Calm Down Pen
Budget: $2.25-$2.00

Fun pen says “Relax, calm down now. Don’t stress, take it easy!” when head is pressed down. Made from Eco-Friendly corn plastic.

IGOT Pen
Budget: $4.95-$3.25 each

The same size as a credit card, this pen fits in your wallet just like your credit cards would. Full color imprinting options on both sides. Made in the USA.

Driinn Cell Phone Holder
Budget:  $3.17 – $1.75 each

Authentic Driinn™ Phone Charger Holder is a handy product for EVERYONE with a cell phone, Mp3 player, or PDA. It hangs between the battery charger and the wall socket, providing a support for your mobile phone and convenient storage for the charging cord. Patented, Made in the USA, large imprint area for your logo will be viewed daily for optimal brand recognition!

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Summit Marketing offers services including promotional products, recognition and incentives, strategic fundraising, direct mail and fulfillment services.

Stay tuned for more ideas from Mike in the coming months (including some great ideas for holiday gifts). To learn more about these and other promotional products, Mike can be reached at 240-491-5235 or m.harper@summitmarketing.com.

Your Twitter page is an extension of your brand and should be designed with the same thought and consideration that goes in to any marketing initiative. In this site seeing column (others can be found here) we explore some uniquely creative Twitter backgrounds. As always, click the image to go to the site.

@miareeva

@spurrachel

@yahoo

@JayFerris

@Go_Media

@MrTweet

@sarahstanley

@kaleidoplex

Yesterday’s post showed the first half of the Today Show’s segment on the $43 billion market we call tweens. From the sound of a Mac booting to an image of a Tiffany box, this group of tweens were able to identify an impressive number of brands — and not just brands that market to tweens. As Lindstrom points out, today’s tweens are far more brand saavy then previous generations. Brands are targeting this generation — and it’s working. 67% of new cars brought into the family are selected by kids. Traditional advertising is not the only way brands are getting in front of tweens either. Product placement on tv and movies is one of the leading ways tweens are seeing brands. When was the last time you saw a computer in a tv or movie scene that was not a Mac?

This morning’s Today Show kicked off the first half of a two-day segment on tweens (children ages 8 to 12) and their brand savvy. Tweens account for $43 billion dollars in spending and as the Today Show’s focus group shows, tweens know their brands. Martin Lindstrom, chairman of Buyology Inc., points out the techniques marketers use to influence the tween audience.

Check out the video below to see how much branding influences tweens.

Tune in tomorrow to see how parents react the the Today Show’s focus group. In the meantime, test your brand saavy.