Strategy Principles – Looking From Different Angles

I was reminded of this by a post I read on Abraham Piper’s blog. Earlier this year, Target introduced a new look for it’s private label, commodity product lines. The brand is called “up&up” and has received a lot of positive attention from the design world.

From a consumer’s perspective, I personally welcomed the change as the new brand distracts me from the reality that we shop at Target because we do not have excess discretionary income and they sell mostly quality products. The new brand really emphasizes the quality of Target’s products when compared to other low-cost competitors (like Walmart or Meijer in the mid-west). The message is clear: “up”; which has a positive connotation (i.e. “Things are looking up.”)

Strategically, the new brand seems like a great concept that aligns with how Target approaches its market. No problem, right?

Look at the new logo upside down:

It’s still a clean, aesthetically pleasing design. But now it says “down”.

Is this catastrophic? No. But the brand message is lost every time Target product gets placed upside down in the consumers home. For me, all I see now is “dn&dn”. Probably not what Target’s marketing team wanted.

As strategists, it’s our job to shine light on the unintended and unexpected by asking “What would this look like from a different angle?”