Are the wheels falling off of your brand?

There’s nothing worse than watching a brand you love lose its way…

A few that come to mind:

Innocent Drinks – once proudly indie, quirky and earthy. Sold its soul to Coca-Cola. Corporate ick.

Oatly – arguable, I know. But I can’t be the only one sensing the wheels starting to come off, driven by a growing disconnect between its original mission and an increasingly loud ego.

Dryrobe – probably selling more units than ever (for now), but when they’re worn on Tesco runs and school pick-ups, you’ve lost credibility with your core: wild swimmers.

MTV – forgot it was meant to be about music somewhere in the mid-90s.

WHSmith – the less said the better. Years of apparent complacency and neglect took the chain out of relevance. Just because a store has ‘been there forever’ doesn’t mean it still has a right to be on our High Streets.

At the time of writing this, BrewDog has been in the news a lot: a loss of direction, ending in administration, bar closures, and job losses.

So why does this happen?

It’s complex, but one core reason stands out: brands forget why they existed in the first place - they lose sight of the difference they set out to make.

‘Forgetting’ often comes down to a lack of clear vision. Brand teams, understandably, become more like caretakers to the brand, rather than its true guardians, prepared to take whatever radical steps may be needed to keep it on track and true to its original self. Personnel changes combined with a natural tendency for risk aversion creeps in. No one wants to be the one who damages, or worse destroys a much beloved brand. But in trying to protect it, they slowly dilute it.

It’s like making a copy of a copy on a photocopier where, with each iteration, the original intent fades until it’s barely there at all.

The answer lies in taking a more visionary approach to your brand: critically assessing why it exists, alongside its aims and ambitions.

If it’s an older brand, where the original intent no longer resonates, or the founders have moved on, the task is to redefine its relevance today and be clear about what it should achieve in the future.

That future vision becomes a guiding light for both customers and teams, especially when it’s brought to life vividly, through film, digital, advertising, and web copy.

Brand teams have clarity on what the brand stands for, and therefore how it should look, sound, and feel. Customers understand its relevance and how it solves their problems today. And innovation becomes more focused and purposeful: if it doesn’t support the vision, it doesn’t make the cut.

Our Visioneering Process is designed to help brands rediscover their reason for being before the wheels come off and the brand loses relevance.

Get in touch if you want to talk about where your brand is heading.