I see countless articles of how people, companies, and academic foundations are harnessing the power of social media in ways that it was not originally envisaged. This taps into my theory that all social media channels are just dial tone, you can use it for anything you like and create new communication paradigms. It's not just for telling people that you have toasted your muffin and your thinking jam may be the way forward :-). Unfortunately a lot of people who are not social media savvy believe that it can be as frivolous as muffin toasting. If you really look at how social media is being used, you will find a revolution is happening, It is a massive game changer in all walks of life! It’s our generations industrial revolution! So don’t turn around and tell me steam trains are for no-hopers and your cart and trusty steed will do you just fine! Do your research and don’t get left behind! I know we all love Champion the Wonder Horse but get yourself a return ticket, it’s much faster!

Gap unveiled their  new logo last week, they called it “a more contemporary, modern expression.” Gap's customers did not like the change, and Gap decided to ask customers for their designs instead. However, they have now back-traked on that too.

Gap said, "Oaky, We’ve heard loud and clear that you don’t like the new logo. We’ve learned a lot from the feedback,” the company said on its Facebook Page. “We only want what’s best for the brand and our customers. So instead of crowdsourcing, we’re bringing back the Blue Box tonight.”

According to Gap, the original logo will be back ( “across all channels.”) and  the new logo will disappear. 

The backlash against Gap’s new logo was really very strong,  Thousands of tweets and Facebook status updates were opposed to it, people found creative ways to protest about new logo. Afake Twitter account, Gap logo generators and many more have chimed in with their campaigns that have gone viral. 

Social media wasn’t the only reason that Gap felt they should revert to the old logo, but it definitely was a major factor. Social media spread the word about the logo change and the company listened to it's customers and avoided a very unpopular decision, a great way companies can get instant feedback to make sure their decisions are right. As for the new design, I think all those people are right, its not the best re-brand I have seen and it shows that lots of care should be taken within the re-branding process to get it right. Here at Damson we use a consultative way of rebranding that we think really works. One of our latest re-brand projects was Kidwells Solicitors, Damson implemented and designed their re-branding, new website, produced their video and implemented their social media strategy using the company's great customer-centric ethos and modern approach.

Old Gap                                                                               New Gap (for a day or so!)

The new look site focuses navigation, context behind photos and the size of photos themselves. Flickr has increased the default size of photos by 28%  to 640 pixels wide. You can also darken the background around photos so you can just focus on the images  themselves. Navigation has changed and now we have a who when, what, where, of each photo to help with photo sharing. 

Toyota teamed with comedy director Jody Hill to create a creative series of online videos.