I hate it when marketers and/or their brand development advisors become so seduced by the prospects of change that they fail to preserve the essential promises of the original brand. We’ve all experienced it: a new and improved product that tastes awful or one that is harder to use; or a destination that doesn’t meet our expectations. Whose bright idea was it to change the name of my trusty Spray and Wash so I couldn’t find it on the shelf?
Of course, as brand stewards, we must be vigilant in creating and maintaining relevancy to our markets. That takes diligence because the social, economic, political, regulatory, technology, and demographic characteristics are changing so fast. In the many BKI Brand Audits that we’ve done recently – whether the target audience is economic developers, CEOs, college students, moms, or professional surfers – the key findings are related to the core, archetypal connections between the brand or the category and its customers/clients. Those connections trump all when it comes to planning for new revenue streams, new markets, or product line extensions. So when you’re focused on repositioning for the future, be sure to respect and reflect the past brand characteristics that are important to your target. Let us know if you’d like BKI to develop an “outside in” objective picture of your brand’s DNA.
