The San Diego Chargers announced that they are moving the NFL franchise to Los Angeles. They designed a new logo emphasizing the new city.
I was interviewed for my opinion on the logo. The first thing I said was that it looked like the Dodger’s logo, and I thought it was cool. I liked the throwback logo like my beloved Chicago Bears with its classic “C”. The simplicity allows it to work well sized down for social media. Basically, it’s fine.
They scrapped the new logo after its first 48 hours!
Maybe the Dodgers were pissed about infringement on their brand, but I think the owners of The Chargers just panicked after social media trashed the logo. The Internet had a field day roasting the new logo. People mocked up the logo to spell “LAME”, “LAZY”, and so on. It was an Internet sensation for a day or so.
Here’s the problem: The logo was fine. This is just what the Internet does. Every brand has to face a certain amount of blowback when they make a change. Launching a rebrand is a process. Part of that process is dealing with the trolls on the Internet.
When you design a logo, you should be aware of possible criticisms. The resemblance to the Dodger’s logo could not have been a surprise reaction to the team. The design team would have discussed this for sure.
If they drafted a rookie quarterback, would they immediately trade him because of a few tweets?
I wrote a blog years ago when the Big Ten changed their logo. Everyone freaked out. “Everyone” hated it. Of course, now everyone loves it. The last point I made would be that it would be a shame if they scrapped the whole thing.
The Internet craps on things. That is what it’s there for. The Tweets we funny. Sometimes we just pile on some things because it’s easy. Some memes out there just happen for no reason. Think of “rick rolling” or “that’s Jason Bourne”. There’s no special reason for some of it, but some of it is just plain fun. You need a sense of humor and a thicker skin these days.
Don’t get me wrong, some rebrands are a misstep
Look at the Gap logo. This design was roasted at the time and the company had to go back to the classic logo. The difference here is that the new logo was crap. It went from classic to something closer to JC Penny or K-Mart of the 90’s.
There are plenty examples of logo fails. A company needs to know the difference between a logo fail and the normal pile of crap have to hear with any launch.
The new logo wasn’t the greatest mark in sports history, but it deserved more than 48 hours!
