Shortly after the UK government announced £27 billion lost in failed IT projects another minor embarrassment was revealed, this time for the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), whose website proudly states: “Helping Government deliver best value from its spending.”
The logo cost £14,000 to create, and was intended to signify the bold ambition of the OGC of “improving value for money by driving up standards and capability in procurement.” You can imagine how many meetings, hefty documents, PowerPoint presentations and endless focus groups had to be held to rack up £14,000 in fees while this logo was deliberated – and yet for all this contemplation they missed the glaringly obvious.
According to insiders, the graphic was already proudly etched on mousemats and pens before it was unveiled for employees, who spotted the clanger within seconds.
Just tilt your head to the left. A spokesman for OGC said: “It is true that it caused a few titters among some staff when viewed on its side, but on consideration we concluded that the effect was generic to the particular combination of the letters OGC – and it is not inappropriate to an organisation that’s looking to have a firm grip on Government spend.”
A firm grip indeed.
