Is branding just for marketers?
In a dynamic and global world where brands seem to shift constantly and where achieving sustainable customer loyalty is not an easy task, the answer is NO. Perceptions of brands change over time, many successful companies and products from the past do not exist today. As it can be seen in the graph below from a research done by Samuel Arbesman (http://www.wired.com/2012/06/fortune-500-turnover-and-its-meaning/), there is an imminent rate of decrease in the companies that form part of the Fortune 500 list as time passes by.
In another article from Prof. Mark J. Perry’s blog (http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2011/11/fortune-500-firms-in-1955-vs-2011-87.html), it can be observed that “comparing the Fortune 500 companies in 1955 and 2011, there are only 67 companies that appear in both lists…56 years later almost 87% of the companies have either gone bankrupt, merged, gone private, or still exist but have fallen from the top Fortune 500 companies (ranked by gross revenue).” This is something alarming and is worth considering.
Branding is a critical issue for marketing and sales but brands are certainly not just instruments of management. Not only brand managers but also executives need to understand that brands have a critical role and should be a means to an end. Branding should be seen as a strategic initiative and should be done collectively and with the collaboration of the executive team. A long time ago, brands stopped being just a marketing issue and the playing field has changed. Now, many different stakeholders are involved including employees, customers, producers, distributors, etc. and their opinions and feedback matter.
The effective management of brands should take into account the brand’s relationship with its past and on evolving new meanings for the future. With all the different interactions that exist among stakeholders and their importance, brand managers have become co-owners. Their customers own the brand in very tangible ways. This is why in today’s world branding is not just for marketers and it does not reside exclusively in the marketing department. Otherwise there will be additional challenges derived from a “brand myopia” where the real meaning of the brand can be totally different of how it is perceived by the company, and the likelihood of the brand’s survival will be less.