image by ilisuI don’t always agree with Seth, but sometimes, he completely nails it:
“As soon as they start using the tactics of the other guys, playing the game they play, they become them. As soon as they decide that they can buy (not earn) attention, it all changes.”
Chances are that you’ve forgotten what made your company or services or products so different. So unique. So good.
Chances are that your success has driven you away from those early days, when being different from everyone else, when being better was what it was all about.
Back when taking care of every new customer was like going out on a first date.
Chances are that you’re more focused on aligning your pricing to that of your competitors now than you ever were.
Chances are that you’ve started to copy their every move. You advertise where they advertise. You offer the same services they offer. The closer you get to beating them, the more like them you become.
Chances are that you are slowly becoming a clone of the very people you once thought sucked.
Here it is again, with just a slight little change:
As soon as you start using the tactics of the other guys, playing the game they play, you become indistinguishable from them. As soon as you decide that you can buy (not earn) attention, it all changes.”
Stop.
Take a breather.
Go back to the start.
Are your products still the best? Are they still unique? Is your company still unique? Are you who you promised yourself you would be when you started?
Are you still earning attention, or do you have to resort to buying it?
As Mike Wagner would say: “Own your brand.” Don’t give it away. Don’t hand it over to your competitors or your marketing partners. Don’t let it get beaten up by market pressures or other dark ‘mysterious’ forces beyond your control, whatever they may be. Choose to be great. Choose to be the best. Choose to be remarkable. Choose to make the right decisions, even if they tend to be the most difficult, and even sometimes the scariest.
Owning your brand is tough work. It’s passionate work. It’s nothing short of a damn life-affirming mission – but it is the only way it works. If you aren’t fully committed to it, if your people aren’t fully committed to it, then you’re already treading precariously along a very slippery slope. Stop. Find your footing. Turn around. Go back to the start. Learn to be great again.
Olivier,
Great post as expected. Many brands do lack attitude specially when they have already accomplished a plausible slice of the market they are in.
It’s important to highlight though, the difference between being remarkable and innovative from doing silly line/brand extensions. Detroit? Tag Heur? V8? Gatorade?
Many atrocious extensions are a strong signal of panic rather than being relevant and unique.
Cheers
Gabriel Rosis- Brazil
So Gabriel, what are your thoughts on the new Gatorade “G” campaign?
Didn’t you get confused John? I did. That created confusion about the brand rather than buzz.
What do you think?
Cheers
We had a good little twitter discussion yesterday about it. 1. The change in labels/packaging isn’t good. 2. Even if it were, it would probably do nothing for the brand.
At least if Gatorade had opted to NOT try to soften the label, it might have been effective. As it is, it looks like Gatorade is trying to emulate Vitamin Water and all of its clones.
Gatorade is the only beverage company outside of Coke that can think of whose bottle is emblematic of the brand. The lighting bolt is also pretty recognizable and powerful, in its own Shazam! sort of way. Playing with both of these design elements wold have made more sense: Keep the bottle, keep the color of the drink, and emblazon it all with just the lightning. (Not that I think this would be a good idea, but it would work better than the lame pacified “G” they came up with.)
No pun intended, but this only serves to dilute the brand.
The first rule of Marketing is: First, do no harm to the brand. It looks like some overzealous product manager forgot that.
“The really scary thing is that line extension addiction has hit an all time high. Walk down the aisle of any supermarket and you can see the carnage” Laura Ries
Cheers
Gabriel Rossi