Superficial decisions and the destruction of a brand

💎 Brian Till writes in the book Creating Popular Brands: Branding is like constructing a building. Just as negligence in a seemingly small part of a structure—such as concrete pouring—can cause the entire building to collapse during a mild earthquake, failing to pay attention to every component of your brand will eventually lead to its destruction with even the smallest incident.

🔹 One of the most critical forms of negligence in branding is abandoning the very path that originally led to the brand’s growth and success. In other words, many brands forget their core promise, positioning, competitive advantage, and culture—and as a result, they quickly disappear.

🔹 For example, consider Boston Chicken. Do you remember it? It was a fast‑growing chain offering rotisserie chicken and homemade‑style meals. But the founders soon forgot what had made the brand successful in the first place.

🔹 They neglected their brand: they changed the name to Boston Market, expanded their product range excessively, and lowered the quality and service standards. The result: brand fatigue, declining sales, reduced revenue and stock value, and ultimately bankruptcy.

🔹 Remember that many brands become negligent due to market pressure and external conditions—and this is where the path to destruction begins.

🔹 For example, imagine a brand that enters the market with a single, unique product and becomes very successful. But after some time, sales stop growing.

🔹 As a result, managers decide to expand the product line by adding ordinary, generic products already available in the market. This decision—often made under pressure—seems logical but is extremely dangerous, because it marks the beginning of negligence and, eventually, brand destruction.

🔹 Even if deviating from your brand’s core path helps you achieve short‑term goals, these small deviations gradually penetrate the heart of your brand and ultimately lead to collapse and loss of brand equity.

🔹 So never risk the long‑term survival of your brand for short‑term goals like higher sales or quick profits.

This post is also available in: Persian