It is difficult to avoid politics these days. Right now, both political brands are becoming parties that do not stand for anything but stand against everything or stand for everything. Having a relevant, differentiated brand promise applies whether you are a political entity or a packaged goods offering.
The role of CEO is a success label. Wall Street and investors view the CEO as the fiduciary leader who will drive an enterprise’s performance to greater shareholder financial results. The shareholder mindset tends to be short-term rather than long-term, which puts brands at a disadvantage.
There once was an upheaval at IBM; a David and Goliath moment. That was when personal computers, namely Apple, entered our landscape. The world became divided into Macs and IBM PC’s. The genericization of the Mac alternative led to a proliferation of non-IBM PC offerings from Dell, HP and others. IBM, the Goliath and “owner” of the PC, gave up. Eventually, IBM’s laptop division was sold to Lenovo. The IBM focus became mainframes and its...
One of the most difficult tasks for brand marketers is aligning an enterprise around a corporate Brand Purpose (North Star) and Brand Promise. Gaining adherents rather than mere acceptors is a difficult goal. Regions and local sectors tend to push back on global brand dictates, even if the centrally-sent statements ring true.
Brands seem to fall victim to some of the clearest, most detectable, beyond-doubt brand-building principles. Netflix is our latest example.
