| Categories: Branding | Author: Ashley Libby Diaz | 1
Way back when, after I graduated from business school, I worked for medical device companies. A few years into my career, after working for big organizations like DePuy Orthopaedics (A Johnson & Johnson Company), I found myself at a mid-sized, well established medical device company. I had been recruited to grow not only a 20-year-old, market dominating product, but also an entire mature market. Pretty cool opportunity.
I ate it up. I love all things strategy, and this was strategy at its best.
But, I had a problem. Here I was trying to breathe new life into a mature, but still highly relevant, product and market… with an old, stale brand.
This wasn’t the case for just for my product. It was the case across the company.
Our brand said 'old, heavy, tired, dated'.
Old, heavy, tired, and dated? That’s not sexy, nor interesting or powerful.
Who’s going to notice that? Who’s going to show up to see that at a trade show? Who’s going to seek that out?
No one, of course.
Our brand was betraying us.
It’s clear to me now that the seeds of a brand architect were already in me in those days. I launched a campaign to rebrand the ENTIRE multimillion-dollar company.
AND... IT GOT APPROVED!
I led a $100k rebranding project for the entire company, including all of our product lines.
It was magnificent. We went from having a brand that betrayed us, to a brand that helped us shine.
What do I mean by betrayed? We were saying (and doing) one thing, while our brand was saying something else entirely.
That creates doubt. That creates confusion. That creates mistrust. Within the company, and outside of the company. With partners, associates, and most importantly, clients.
A brand needs to be in complete alignment with your business and direction or trajectory of your business for it to work for, not against, you.
As an entrepreneur or business evolves, so too must your brand. If it doesn’t, your brand will start betraying you and your business.
Brand betrayal has a high cost. It costs perception. It costs trust. It costs customers. And, it costs dollars.
That’s a steep price to pay.
If you suspect your brand is betraying you, now is NOT the time to stick your head in the sand. Now is the time to take courageous action - for your brand, your business, and your clients and customers.
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