I recently consulted on reviving a brand that seems to be suffering from a certain level of exhaustion. Although the brand has strong equity it seems to lack vigor and more importantly distinctiveness. We have all suffered fatigue at some point in time or the other so I decided to look up synonyms to the word to describe my thoughts and feelings about the brand. At my favorite destination Wikipedia I found several links for the definition of fatigue, I started with medical. Fatigue also called exhaustion, languidness, languor, lassitude, or listlessness). The more detailed definition of the term and its implication were in metals, structures and metallurgy – fascinating stuff!
Do brands really suffer from fatigue? Of course they do!
· Brands are quickly diluted if they are not differentiated.
· Brands get stale if not perturbed.
Many well known and strong brands like – JC Penny, Swanson frozen entrée, etc. have experienced phases in their lifecycle where they need new energy to avoid the much feared lack of distinct recognition.
What is a brand to do to keep the brand cheerful, exciting and lively? I usually like to start with first principles and what better place than Brand basics? Defining that target consumer and knowing her is the first step. Who is she? What does she desire? How can we titillate her senses? What else is she considering? How does she engage with our brand and the competition?
Service based brands have a particular advantage when circumventing fatigue the opportunity to close the loop on the consumer experience enables a distinct advantage to learn and fix problems as quickly as they happen. Obviously nothing happens with out a keen focus and deep commitment.
Above all one can never under estimate the power of active listening!
