This week in branding news, a 10-year-old meme appeared as the face of a new federal department, Tumblr launched a TikTok-esque feature, and Crocs made some clogs inspired by the Beatles. Heres what you need to know.Various iterations of doge.gov from the week of January 20, 2025 [Screenshots: doge.gov]DOGEs WIP logoThe news: Directly after taking office on Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to rebrand the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) as the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE (sigh). The new department, set to be headed by billionaire Elon Musk, has been pitched as an outside advisory group that would recommend government reforms and find $500 billion in annual spending to cutbut its looking more and more like the USDS with a new, meme-ified name. Now DOGE seems to be having trouble deciding on a logo that wont turn it into a laughing stock.Big picture: DOGEs name is a nod to a meme thats more than a decade past its prime, which featured a photo of a Shiba Inu with a misspelled caption. The meme is also the face of the joke-turned-real-cryptocurrency Dogecoin, which Musk has financially supported.When the doge.gov website debuted on Monday, it displayed an AI-generated Doge meme as its official logoa reference to the deluge of AI slop that hit the web after Musk initially announced the project. Shortly afterward, that first logo was replaced with a more classic version of the meme. And, as of this writing, the website has no logo at all.Why it matters: Its unclear exactly why the Doge logos were taken down. What is clear is that elevating a concept that started with a meme into an actual federal department is merely an escalation of the new Trump administrations rejection of convention in favor of all things absurd and, often, troubling. [Screenshot: Tumblr]Tumblr tries to go TikTokThe news: Ten years after it first teased the concept of Tumblr TVa tab dedicated to discovering new GIFs (how very 2015)Tumblr has finally launched the feature as a kind of TikTok wannabe. Big picture: Tumblr TV (which, in its modern form, also supports video content) comes during a moment when plenty of TikTok users are searching for potential alternatives amid the apps uncertain fate. Lemon8 and RedNote have both seen a massive spike in users; meanwhile, some former TikTok users are buying phones with the app pre-downloaded on eBay, as its no longer available on the App Store.According to TechCrunch, Tumblr was also a destination for TikTok dupe seekers: A spokesperson reported that the platform saw a roughly 35% increase in iOS app installs and a 70% increase in new users joining Communities, a feature that allows users to join various groups focused on specific interests.Why it matters: Tumblr TV might serve as a TikTok alternative if you were, say, stuck on a desert island with only one app downloaded to your phone, but as of right now, its just not cutting it. The interface is still quite GIF-focused, the video quality is subpar, and the default grid setting means that vertical swiping isnt as smooth. In 2015, this might have blown our minds, but in 2025, it feels more like a blast from the past. [Photo: Crocs]A new Crocs collabThe news: A new Crocs collaboration might just take the cake for the wackiest shoes the brand has ever released. Big picture: The new two-clog Crocs collection is a tribute to the Beatless 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine. One pair features the classic Croc silhouette decked out in the flattened, psychedelic aesthetic that defined the film. The other pair is designed to look like a literal yellow submarine, complete with portholes (through which each member of the iconic band peeps up at the wearer), tiny propellers, and a raised tower on top of the vessel. The shoes will be available online on January 28.Why it matters: Crocs continues to demonstrate its innovative dominance with a strategy that purposefully defies expectation. One moment, the brand is making serious moves for the climate by going bio-based and recycling old clogs into new clogs; the next, its entertaining silly collabs with McDonalds and making clogs for dogsall while launching the occasional high-fashion silhouette, like the popular Salehe Bembury Crocs and punkabilly-inspired leather Crocs. Its the brand that keeps us on our toes, literally.
