Rebrand Regrets

Cracker Barrel has been all over the news recently—and not in good way! The 50-plus-year-old company kicked off a $700-million rebrand with a new text-only logo—removing the iconic barrel and man leaning against it—and plans to remodel its restaurants in order to appeal to new customers, especially younger ones. There was immediate backlash: customers complained about the loss of the nostalgic feel, traffic declined and share prices fell. Cracker Barrel quickly added back the “old timer” elements to the logo and paused further remodels (only four of its 660 locations had been completed).

Theirs isn’t the only rebrand-gone-wrong over the years. Here are a few other notorious misfires:

• Remember when Coca-Cola reformulated its flagship soda in 1985 and branded it as “New Coke”? Consumers revolted—both because they disliked the taste and because the brand identity of “Classic Coke” was...
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