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Are mainstream brands headed for a fall?

Well, to answer this question right at the start, the answer is “yes.” In fact, a lot of mainstream brands have already gone over the falls, but their demise has been shrouded in mists of mismanagement, buyouts and bankruptcy. But make no mistake about it: they were brand failures first. The other things happened when they had already let themselves drop over the edge.

The mainstream brands that are still afloat are somewhere upstream, in the middle of the flow, enjoying the serene drift. Perhaps they can’t hear the deafening thunder of their fate, but they’re surely coursing toward it.

What makes a mainstream brand?

Mainstream brands are defined by their assumptions:

  1. They assume brands are all about shaping perceptions, rather than delivering value.
  2. They assume the sole mission of brands is to push the product. In their view, brands are “the salesman on the package.”
  3. They assume customers are only valuable as one-dimensional “consumers,” and that customers can add no value back to the brand, or to the business.
  4. They assume that the only way to build their brands is through top-down media campaigns.
  5. They assume that brand success means corralling and containing the customer—under lock and key if at all possible.
  6. They assume that brands are a substitute for innovation. Get people to believe in “the brand” and you can stop innovating and preserve the status quo, forever.
  7. They assume that brands “never rock the boat.”

And then they feel the waters quicken, and hear a distant rumble.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007 at 6:20 am and is filed under Brand Models, Creating Customers, Brand Fundamentals, Brand Vision, Brand Building. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Are mainstream brands headed for a fall?”

  1. Edward Cotton Says:
    January 2nd, 2007 at 6:35 am

    It would be constructive if you could name some brands that you consider to be mainstream.

  2. Brian Phipps Says:
    January 2nd, 2007 at 8:37 am

    Thanks for the comment. I think P&G is largely mainstream, as are the Big Three, as is Gap, McDonald’s and all the fast food vendors—just to name companies in categories that immediately come to mind. If you apply the mainstream criteria, other companies will emerge. One thing I didn’t discuss is that mainstream brands exist in part because they support existing corporate hierarchies. The more bureaucratic a company, the more it will prefer a mainstream brand approach. Changing the brand then becomes a real chore, as it means changing basic business attitudes and structures. That’s often near-impossible, which is why you can see some once great brands slowly drifting toward the edge for years until they finally go over.

    These days I think a lot of companies see the real risk in “brands as usual,” and are beginning to question mainstream brand assumptions. (To its credit, P&G is one of these.) They’re all trying to find ways to use their brands to deliver value that customers can use, rather than simply be a way to influence “perceptions.”

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