Does the Xbox rebrand turn branding into fan service?

Have we entered a new era of branding by democratic vote? First, it was the cancellations. Cracker Barrel dropped a logo design because people on X didn't like it. This week, Spotify issued a statement to reassure people that it's new app icon won't be around for long.

But Microsoft's Xbox may have taken things to a new extreme. Its rebranding based on the strength of a straw poll on X.

Xbox, it seems, is joining the ranks of those annoying brands that want their name written in all-caps even in standard copy, like Nvidia and Asus and many others who commit this crime against grammar.

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You can try to explain to them that all-caps exists only to denominate abbreviations intended to be sounded out letter by letter, like BMW, AMD... and the YMCA. But they insist that they want their brand name to look like it were written in a Tweet by Donald Trump.

Curiously, it was the former Twitter that made the decision on the future of the Xbox name – or at least the 64.8% of the 19,176 people who took part in the poll posted by new CEO Asha Sharma.

Asha declared it a clear verdict, and Xbox's X profile name was promptly changed to read 'XBOX'.

I can understand why Xbox gamers would approve of the change. The first Xbox logo used all caps, and the adoption of this styling amid Asha's “return of Xbox” initiative fits with the nostalgic approach of the Xbox logo redesign with its skeumorphic design channelling the 3D logo design of the mid-2000s. It feels like Xbox is getting back to normal after an experiment that didn't work out.

But is branding by customer survey really wise for such a big brand? This might seem like a small deal, but what next? Will we see PlayStation inviting gamers to vote on a new logo the way football clubs do?

It's always good to get opinion from outside. That's what focus groups are for. But consumers' opinions can be swayed by trends, group think and habit.

And with a poll, you're likely to only get a response from the most engaged customers: 12,426 people voted in favour of the all-caps Xbox. For context, the Series X and S consoles are estimated to have sold over 30 million units. It's not resounding evidence to make the case for a long-term brand identity.

It could be that Asha had already taken the decision and only ran the poll because she knew the result would go in favour of the more shouty all-caps choice, thus creating a bit of hype and the illusion of a brand listening to its customers.

Just don't make me write it that way. Unless you want me to pronounce it as X.B.O.X.

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