Brands carry weight. Swiss watches symbolize precision, Apple, innovation, and being different. But what of brands failing their standards?
Take United Airlines’s “fly the friendly skies” until you are bumped from a flight because it is overbooked and dragged away by security. It’s not too friendly. Hollow claims shake consumer faith and tarnish reputations.
Brand promises may become insignificant. Take Dominoes and their pledge to deliver pizza “in 30 minutes or less,” which has been honored for years but has become a promise that is no longer as meaningful to consumers. Quick delivery was important, but providing great-tasting pizza needed to be part of the equation.
Branding is not just marketing. It’s a pact: your name guarantees what you stand for. It must mean more than words—representing real values and actions. And if it is something we can stand by in 50 years, even better.
A brand’s strength lies not in its name but in its promise. Organizations and even individuals must determine what they stand for and ensure that their brand isn’t just a label but a testament to genuine commitment.
Organizations, and again, even individuals, should determine and understand what they stand for. What values do we want to portray? What does that imply? How do we behave because of that? What do we promise our stakeholders because of these values? This becomes our values, our brand promise, and our culture. It is an identity.
If we are unclear about what we stand for and cannot make any promises about that, why do we expect anyone else to think of us differently?
