In January 2003, McDonald’s announced its first quarterly loss, a $344 million deficit for the final three months of 2002. Restructuring charges accounted for much of the loss, but the warning signs were already visible in the restaurants. Comparable sales were falling, service was inconsistent, and customers had fewer reasons to choose a brand that had once felt indispensable.
How does a CPG company build a brand that AI systems can credibly recommend while also giving consumers more compelling and powerful reasons to prefer it?
Once upon a time, corporate brands scrambled to become pillars of Corporate Social Responsibility, aka CSR. CSR meant that a corporation had responsibilities for people and planet as well as profit. Enterprises had to find ways to operate in ways that benefited society and the environment, as well as shareholders. Along with fiduciary performance, organizations had to incorporate ethical, environmental, and societal impacts into strategic planning. CSR is all-encompassing, inclusive, and nondenominational: a focus on...
In 2022, Proterra looked like a company that had already won. It had delivered more than 1,000 electric buses, held contracts with 135 transit agencies, and grew revenue 24% to $309 million. The White House championed it. The U.S. electric bus market grew 66% that year, and federal infrastructure money was flowing toward exactly what Proterra made. In August 2023, Proterra filed for Chapter 11.
There is a second body of equity that behaves differently. It is produced by customers, held on platforms the company does not control, consulted at the point of purchase more often than any owned channel, and, on any platform worth the name, not revizable by the company it describes. Most brand strategy treats this as reputation management, which is a category error. It is not the management of a message. It is an asset with...
