So What Did We Learn?

(This is the third, and final, post in the story about a good brand that wasn't given a chance.)

This story took place in the television industry, as will many of my stories.  But I think that its lessons can easily be related to a number of different industries.  See if you agree.

We learned:

1.  Give the new brand time.  One year isn't enough.  Two years isn't enough.  It takes time to re-earn consumer trust and loyalty after changing your brand, especially if it is a dramatic change.  Take the bad input with the good and don't look for an immediate up-tick.  And stay disciplined!  Give it time.  

2. Make sure you are prepared for "knee-jerk" reactions.  The first bit of negative input could make folks in your organization "run home" to the way they were used to doing things abandoning all your re-branding work, or at least leaving serious cracks in the foundation you just laid.  Anticipate this.  Be prepared to gently guide them back on course. 

3.  Give plenty of positive reinforcement internally.  Share little successes with everyone throughout the organization.  Give the staff some positive information that you may not have shared with them before.  Let them see that momentum is growing and let them take pride in that.  Then when some bad news come down you can point back to the good. 

4.  Remind your staff again and again and again that branding goes hand-in-hand with differentiation.  You are probably not going to catch and beat the competition by playing the game the same way they play it; especially if they've been winning for a long time.  Remind your staff, and yourself, that you are now trying to be something different than what you were, different from what your competitor is, and that the perception of success should be measured differently.  In our case we should have abandoned the measurement of the "breaking news" image and continued on.  That was a measurement for our competition (and our old self) and it didn't really apply to our brand.

But man...  did those knees ever start jerking!

The single most important word used in this post is:  DISCIPLINE. Branding will always fail without discipline.

Would these lessons apply to your industry?  I bet they would.

— Pete Nikiel combines 20 years of marketing experience with clear, forward thinking.  He is available to help out companies and agencies in a number of different ways.  Think of him as your utility player on call.  If you need any sort of help in marketing, branding and advertising contact Pete.  Freelance.  Project work.  Part time.  Work.