Revisiting SAP’s “golden moment” in 2014.
With everyone around the world nervous about financial instability and war, the news media in the United States took a break to focus on something even more important – corporate rebranding.
Of course, I’m referring to the recent branding redesign exercise for the Cracker Barrel.
I’ve never seen so many fit and attractive broadcast personalities state for the record that they do not eat at the Cracker Barrel but their grandmother does. Grandma loves the Cracker Barrel and she does not want a single thing to be changed. Even though their core audience is literally aging and dying out.
Usually when branding is redesigned, no matter how terrible, the graphic design firm involved writes a flowery description of the decisions made, the colors used, and the rationale for change. None of that context was provided for the Cracker Barrel’s new look, only criticism.
It reminded me of SAP’s brief attempt at changing their historical blue logo to gold in 2014. I remember it being a typical Monday morning until I loaded the SAP home page into my browser.
There wasn’t a lot of controversy regarding the redesigned branding. Even Dennis Howlett, the now-retired SAP curmudgeon, had glowing praise for SAP’s golden moment in an article for diginomica.
I was able to set the Internet Archive’s wayback machine to September 20, 2014. It was a delightful touch of nostalgia to see former SAP executive (now Boomi CEO) Steve Lucas on the homepage.
I wish I knew the full backstory, because the gold SAP logo only lasted around a week. Possibly less. It’s been too long for me to recall the exact details, but I do not think the gold logo ever made it from the website to SAP’s social media channels. As quickly as it turned to gold, the logo reverted to traditional SAP blue, as if nothing ever happened. Clearly an SAP marketing executive had enough authority to spend extravagant amounts of money on the redesign exercise but did not get the buy-in from somebody who really mattered. I wonder who the marketing executive was, who torpedoed their rebranding dreams, and whether they lost their job as a side effect of SAP’s golden moment.
The Cracker Barrel branding fiasco, if we can truly call it that, generated a lot of clickbait articles and videos to capture the perceived anger of “MAGA” Cracker Barrel customers. And poor Joanna Gains was blamed for the Cracker Barrel’s redesigned interiors, despite not having a thing to do with it. And the stock price tanked, to the delight of all of the short sellers profiting from the drama.
I have no background in marketing or graphic design, but in the current age of social media marketing, corporate logos are being redesigned with an emphasis on clean and scalable visuals. As much as you might love Uncle Hershel sitting in his rocking chair, he doesn’t look that great when reduced in size for a social media profile image.
Witness recent changes with familiar brands like Pepsi and RE/MAX. Both are a faint echo of their brand’s rich history. The classic RE/MAX “hot air balloon” looks more like a Google map marker, which may have been the intended outcome. Pepsi has already jettisoned their “modern” redesign in favor of the “classic” logo we all remember as children. Time will tell if RE/MAX quietly reintroduces a brand identity that includes a real hot air balloon.
What’s the lesson here? If you create great food with a great atmosphere, nobody will complain about your logo. If you create and support great software, nobody will complain about your logo. An updated logo on an inferior dining experience will accomplish nothing. The Cracker Barrel, while not completely broken, needs to make improvements to their menu and dining experience so both grandma and her grandchildren enjoy dining there.
Disclaimer: I hold no Cracker Barrel stock (CBRL) but I plan to continue enjoying their gravy and biscuits regardless of the logo flying over the restaurant. They better not tamper with the recipe for hash brown casserole, but I’ll gladly try any “new” dishes aimed at Uncle Hershel’s grandchildren.
Fun fact: Cracker Barrel has owned the Maple Street Biscuit Company since 2019. It’s a fast-casual Chipotle-meets-First Watch take on southern-style breakfast and lunch. No doubt Uncle Hershel isn’t a fan of the goat cheese, but you should visit if you have a restaurant in your area.
What are your memories of SAP’s golden moment in 2014?
