One of the first things I learned as a graduate student at Northwestern’s Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) program 20 years ago and years later as a teacher in that same program was the value of a brand. Managing a brand is so important people earning college degrees focused entirely on how to protect this important asset. A brand like McDonald’s is much more than its golden arches however, as Apple’s is more than its intriguing white fruit logo.
While a brand is really an intangible, its value to any successful company is immense. In the most simple of terms, a brand is really all about a company’s reputation in the marketplace. How reliable are its products? How clever are employees at developing fresh solutions to old problems? Just as important is the faith a corporation’s name conjures in the minds of consumers ready to hand over their money. Would iPod’s have become household words if Apple had turned their back on customers when a unit failed? Not a chance. A brand then is everything a company does that makes consumers return for more … the employees, the products, the service. Screw any of these up and the brand’s in peril.
Case in Point
Hawker Beechcraft’s troubles aren’t new since the 90-year old aircraft builder’s been wallowing in Chapter 11 bankruptcy since May. No surprise that investors Goldman Sachs and Onex wanted out after struggling with HBC’s $2.5 billion debt, but when the Chinese deal with Superior Aviation fell apart a few weeks ago, on the eve of the industry’s biggest show at NBAA in Orlando, Hawker was trapped between a rock and a hard spot. [Read more…] about The Slow Death of a Great Brand