Top 10 Product Redesign Fails
#10: Twitter Becomes X
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A bird tweets. Twitter has a blue bird as the logo. Bird, tweet, tweeting. It all adds up, right? Well, all of that brand recognition and synergy kind of went out of the window when tech Mogul Elon Musk acquired the social media platform and rebranded it as X. Musk has visions of creating an “everything app” and the acquisition and rebranding of Twitter is a big part of that. However, it’s not gone over great with fans of the platform, with many feeling that the brand recognition and familiar feel has simply vanished. All of this uncertainty has ultimately led to the app’s value falling to just a third of what it was before Musk took over. Come on, bring back Larry the bird!
#9: British Airways and the Union Flag
This British airline is well-known for its patriotic Union Flag tail fin design. But for a short stint, back in 1997, the company embarked on a new program called “World Tails”. This had its aircraft’s tail fins donning various different murals from artists all over the world. The general consensus however was that the airline lost a big chunk of its British feel - and some felt that the supposed culturally-rich designs were actually a bit patronizing. The designs were dropped after 4 years, and the airline has since reprised its Union Flag moniker. Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher summarized the World Tails program rather abruptly, stating "We fly the British flag, not these awful things." Yikes.
#8: Royal Mail Becomes Consignia
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Another staple of British culture next, Royal Mail, which believe it or not, back in 2001, was rebranded Consignia. The idea behind this renaming was that the word Consignia more accurately represented the wide scope of what the Royal Mail service actually did. The word Consignia also has connotations of royalty and trust. But this change didn’t last long. After just 16 months, the Consignia reign was over, and the mail service became Royal Mail once again. Royal Mail as a brand is about as British as it gets. And rebranding it as Consignia is like trying to change fish and chips to cod and fries. Not going to happen.
#7: The BlackBerry Storm
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The release of the iPhone back in 2007 made all big tech brands rethink their marketing strategies. And one of those brands was Blackberry. In order to take on Apple, Blackberry made its first foray into the touchscreen smartphone market, launching the Blackberry Storm. This phone was a complete re-imagining of the button-heavy Blackberrys of yesteryear. There was only one problemThe problem was, it wasn’t very good, with its new-fangled SurePress display malfunctioning more often than not. In short, the Blackberry Storm was a failure, and it set the tone for the brand’s downward spiral in the years to come.
#6: RadioShack Nicknames Itself
You know how it is in school, you don’t give yourself a nickname, you wait for your friends to bestow one upon you. Well, RadioShack jumped the gun in 2009 In with a feeble attempt to boost their cool factorappeal more youthful, and to help promoteboost theirits mobile product strategy, in 2009, RadioShake decided to drop the Radio and rebrand as by rebranding themselves The Shack. At the time, TheRadioShack was facing stiff competition from colossal stores like Costco and BestBuy at the time, and this was seen as a relatively cost-effective way of shaking things up. Sadly, for RadioShack, the new name didn’t catch on, and it seemingly went as fast as it came.
#5: Sun Chips and its Noisy Bags
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Companies are often strivingalways trying to strive to become more environmentally-friendly. And back in 2010, Frito Lay, the maker ofwho make Sun Chips, decided to do their part for the environment and redesign their iconicits bags with plant-based materials in an effort to make them 100% compostable. Great, right? In theory, yes. The only problem was that the new, more rigid bag construction made the crinkle sound of the packaging, loud. How loud you might ask?Very loud. So loudAs a result, customers stopped buying Sun Chips, and sales of the tasty, eco-snackconscious treat reportedly dropped 11 per cent. Frito Lay reversed the change a year and a half later, and went back to the drawing board in an attempt to to try and create asomething a little a less deafening, more movie-friendly, yet sustainable, chip bag. We’re still waiting.
#4: Hershey Has a New Kiss
Brands are always modernizing their logos, often adding simplified shapes and letters to create a fresher look. This was what The Hershey Brand looked to do back in 2014, by reimagining its Hershey’s chocolate logo - featuring new, bold lettering and one of its famed Hershey Kisses chocolate treats. But what does that Kisses chocolate look like to you? I mean, it looks like a steaming poop emoji, right? The social media world thought so too, and creators everywhere were quick to point out the similarities. Did Hershey’s quickly change the design? No. Surprisingly the brand stuck with it. Could all of the negative publicity be seen as a success? Possibly. But when the intent was to drop a new modernized logo, not a deuce, we’d argue that this belongs firmly in the fail column.
#3: Tropicana’s Cartons
We’ve got another straight-up packaging fail next, dating back to 2009 when the Tropicana brand, famous for its orange juice, decided to ditch its straw-stuck-in-an-orange carton design, for something a little more, well, obscure. The new branding, intended to make the drink more “down to earth”, simply featured the color orange and some choice wording. Many consumers complained that this branding looked cheaper and unrecognizable. And it seemed the departure from the straw-based logo was just too much to stomach. That backlash, and a not-so-measly 20% drop in sales, urged the brand to go back to their more recognisable trademark.
#2: Windows Vista
Bir brands need to constantly update and innovate, and that’s exactly why Windows brought out Windows Vista in 2007, a replacement for its solid, but aging, Windows XP system. From the get-go however, Vista hit a lot of speed bumps, most of which related to speed and incompatibility issues with various apps and hardware devices. Windows 7 came along a few years later and completely revived the Windows brand, with huge improvements to overall performance and user-friendliness. But Vista was a close call that arguably nearly tanked the tech giant.
#1: New Coke
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People don’t like it when you mess with their cola. Pepsi tried it with Pepsi A.M and failed miserably, and so did eponymous cola brand Coke. Back in 1985, Coke was facing increasing competition from Pepsi. So, it decided to launch a new, sweeter formula, carrying the unofficial name New Coke. The public takedown of New Coke was instantaneous. Coke fans thought it was too sweet, the media slammed Coke for past ads that criticized sweet cola brands, and Coke put themselves in danger of cannibalizing their own market share with what was effectively a new beverage. Surprisingly, New Coke was only discontinued in 2002.
Did you actually like any of the failed products mentioned in this list? If so, let us know which pens in the comments below!
