Think Twice Before Updating Your Brand

Brands are constantly changing in order to “stay fresh”, but that’s a mistake. Customers stay loyal through habit, not because you've forced something new and unfamiliar on them. Roger Martin, former dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and one of the world’s leading thinkers on strategy, says brands shouldn’t be so quick to throw away their cumulative advantage.
00:00 Customer loyalty-their consciously choosing your brand-is only half the story.
01:00 What is cumulative advantage, and why is it important?
02:14 Just how fragile is this cumulative advantage?
02:45 Example: Tide laundry detergent forfeits its cumulative advantage.
04:54 Instagram redesigns a familiar icon. Why?
06:03 So, should brands never do anything new?
For more from Roger Martin on this topic, read, "A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Management Effectiveness": www.amazon.com/New-Way-Think-...
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Пікірлер: 39

  • @stefanielle982
    @stefanielle982 Жыл бұрын

    It's a perspective piece on why brands shouldn't rebrand/update branding simply because it's the "big thing" to do and he is absolutely correct. It's not a piece on why rebranding doesn't work or that companies shouldn't rebrand. Some of these comments mentioning "XYZ updated their logo and they didnt fail" yeah because updated branding 'does' have its place.

  • @somosagricultura
    @somosagricultura Жыл бұрын

    It's amazing to understand how our minds work. I work on marketing and this is pure gold for me. Thanks for sharing.

  • @yashasvitiwari8220
    @yashasvitiwari8220 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you, your vedio has helped me in getting an answers to my questions which I had faced and I experienced and now all is clearly understandable.

  • @allthingstoallmen8912
    @allthingstoallmen8912 Жыл бұрын

    Really interesting, I'd like to understand how habit relates with/to consumer hype. Because we see people going crazy over the latest and greatest *insert brand and gadget here*. There has to be more than just habit at play.

  • @danchelltaylor6836
    @danchelltaylor6836 Жыл бұрын

    Love your straight forward style! Lol😁

  • @soyunkim5380
    @soyunkim5380 Жыл бұрын

    Hi Prof.Roger, Thank you for sharing your insight from experience and research. I don't know who were customers. I thought it would be great to see the detergent for dark blue color with a specialized scent related to shave form. The data might be different for independent adventurous millennials in USA.

  • @ranushkalakmal
    @ranushkalakmal Жыл бұрын

    Very interesting. However, is it possible that this is only applicable to certain types of products? A product like detergent is something people do not want to experiment with (often time) or even looking forward to have disrupting changes when they are completely comfortable with current level of performance. On the contrary a technological product that do not evolve/update often (both features and design) can easily get replaced by a new and hot app released over the weekend. Physical design of iPhone has remained very similar to the first release, however iOS has changed dramatically over the years. Though it may seem subtle, Apple has even changed their brand identity over time including the logo, fonts and colours. Therefore is it possible that this is only applicable to products that customer do not expect drastic changes? Products that customers are comfortable with current level of performance?

  • @etnevel.naitzsirk

    @etnevel.naitzsirk

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes, this is very possible. In fact, in tech one year can count as ten years in real life in the sense that you either keep up with the trends and adapt to the latest hype, or you get out-dated very fast. Of course, Apple doesn't change too much because they are an established brand that has to be careful with major decisions (remember the outrage about the headphone jack's removal?), but everyone else moves very quickly to stay relevant. This is also true about fashion, hoverer on the consumer side, you're not required to change your clothes very often, but brands have to keep up with generational taste changes and seasonal collections. Now, back to tech for a moment. Currently, we are in the era of the A.I. craze. Dall-E and MidJourney are controversial from many aspects, however ChatGPT's relevance is something that most people agree on. That's why Microsoft invested in its developer $10B, and integrates the service in Bing. How is this about staying relevant? Google was the search engine monopoly, but Bing just changed the game about how people want answer to their questions instantly with the best recommendation and without having to browse through multiple sites filled with ads and other intrusive elements. It turns out, Google went into panic mode and does the catch-up game now. On the other hand, Google refreshed Android, Chrome, ChromeOS, their apps and services to Material You, a brand new design language introduced with Android 12. It's fresh, it's stylish, it's new, and while it's also controversial for some people, the company dared to leave behind Material Design, which if you look at Android 5, needed YEARS to be polished. Now they managed to create a better, more consistent look. It integrates better in their identity, while Apple still works on the same design that was released 10(!) years ago and people still try to guess if Apple's operating systems get a fresh look in 2023 or later. Apple is the out-dated one in design right now. Even Microsoft figured out a new identity not only for their operating system, but for their whole product portfolio and their main company brand too. You know, the company that was always behind, that had the stigma of being too corporate, now feels as a younger, more relevant brand, which fits with them opening towards Millennial and Gen-Z as their customers. In conclusion, yes, tech is much more different from utility products that you choose the best from and never change them, as long as they work. Tech is based on this cat and mouse game, where competition and freshness is what leads the industry. At least on the consumer side, because Enterprise has a different approach with this "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach. Big corporations are very cautious about changes and their toolset is usually about stability. Basically they're old. If the Enterprise sector would be a person, it would be a boomer.

  • @jeyshs5131
    @jeyshs5131 Жыл бұрын

    Very interesting and insightful

  • @washingtonmwangi6484
    @washingtonmwangi6484 Жыл бұрын

    Great insights.

  • @olegsmertin-learn2manage
    @olegsmertin-learn2manage11 ай бұрын

    Great video. THANK YOU! Please, do more the same videos to advertise your other great ideas.

  • @tonychang3080
    @tonychang3080 Жыл бұрын

    Very useful brief .Do you think there are differences in product categories or market segments that should be considered when applying the Dean's thinking on rebranding?.

  • @olashoplife
    @olashoplife Жыл бұрын

    Awesome

  • @kuanjuliu
    @kuanjuliu Жыл бұрын

    Well, that certainly would explain conservative vs progressive political strategies. One of them, by construction, is always climbing uphill: it’s not incompetence - it’s the subconscious!

  • @sommerxu6626
    @sommerxu6626 Жыл бұрын

    but how can I solve the growth problem?

  • @vcgallemit
    @vcgallemit Жыл бұрын

    This is the same with Derek Thompson’s MAYA

  • @SafiullahWasiullah
    @SafiullahWasiullah Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for sharing HBR

  • @beatricet5682
    @beatricet5682 Жыл бұрын

    The original Instagram button icon was over-designed and too literal. That's why it needed updating. Also the new Instagram icon design reflects a suite of tools including Boomerang, Layout, and Hyperlapse. It's clear why the IG logo rebranded.

  • @GarrettReil

    @GarrettReil

    Жыл бұрын

    Agree. He makes no argument or supporting evidence at all on Instagram except that 'it's boggling' to him. I expect more from Roger Martin who is usually so on point. Perhaps straying a little too far from his core strengths here.

  • @kayarosenbloom1976

    @kayarosenbloom1976

    Жыл бұрын

    No customer is thinking about or making a connection to Boomerang, Layout or Hyperlapse. That’s his point. It’s justified to a bunch of designers; it’s lost on everyone else. That change, he argues, triggers the subconscious to rethink habit. Intagram may not be the best example because of its dominance, but it was an unnecessary risk that returned no real value.

  • @emmanueloluga9770

    @emmanueloluga9770

    Жыл бұрын

    @@kayarosenbloom1976 Exactly this

  • @simonmayer5083
    @simonmayer5083 Жыл бұрын

    well - I guess one has to say that the "refresh" of a brand very much depends on the "how". An attentive designer changes a brands personality only with very much attention to what the old strengths were and how to enforce them. Designers who solely focus on styling accidentally destroy the habit of the customer :)

  • @etnevel.naitzsirk
    @etnevel.naitzsirk Жыл бұрын

    This was an interesting video until I realised, this is not about re-branding being bad, it's about him not being able to catch up with change. The TIDE analogy was fine, but Instagram was in the position where they either die sticking to skeuomorphism, or switch to flat design and adapt to new mobile and desktop UIs. And to be honest, their new logo is good enough to stick out of the "crowd" of many apps on our phones. Which is more important than one person hating their favourite sports app's changes. It's obvious that the tech world adapts to newer generations, it's not about the people who want the same thing 10-15 years later, too. So he might praise iPhones being consistent, but others pull out their hair because of how they still have to rely on ancient Lightning cables. Being constant is not always an advantage. Incremental changes for years becomes boring very quickly and it means being behind while the world goes past the companies that don't want to stay relevant. Apple's advantage currently is iMessage, their new in-house hardware and that's it. I have Apple products, but that doesn't mean that I agree with all of their decisions. New vs Improved? Improved is for Apple's disadvantage since their 2020 product line. They raised the bar so much then that they can't show anything much more impressive, but people expect exactly that. Consumers want newer and newer revolutionary products because of that year's product line. Staying fresh is hard, but on the contrary of the video, big tech HAS TO stay fresh.

  • @sinoptik0274
    @sinoptik0274 Жыл бұрын

    Thats explain why iphone SE still exist

  • @omodiagbedominicedeoghon4607
    @omodiagbedominicedeoghon4607 Жыл бұрын

    Explains the failure of New Coke.

  • @beatricet5682

    @beatricet5682

    Жыл бұрын

    New Coke failed because they changed the flavour. It wasn't due to the branding.

  • @omodiagbedominicedeoghon4607

    @omodiagbedominicedeoghon4607

    Жыл бұрын

    @@beatricet5682 You're partly correct. Describing Coke as new amounts to updating the brand. And consumers' response to the flavour of New Coke shows that habit affects not only consumers' response to branding but also their response to the substance of a product.

  • @beatricet5682

    @beatricet5682

    Жыл бұрын

    @@omodiagbedominicedeoghon4607 No that's not correct. In the example given in the video, Tide launched a new brand called Era which wasn't successful because they didn't use the word Tide or the orange bottle. The sole reason New Coke failed was not due to branding but that they changed the flavour. It was a product issue not a brand issue. They should have kept the classic Coke flavour and created a separate brand for the new Coke flavour.

  • @omodiagbedominicedeoghon4607

    @omodiagbedominicedeoghon4607

    Жыл бұрын

    @Beatrice T Can you prove that calling it "New" was not a contributory factor, admittedly a lesser one than the change of flavour? Ask, what would have been the result had Coca Cola branded its new offering not as New Coke but as Improved Coke or Better Coke?

  • @beatricet5682

    @beatricet5682

    Жыл бұрын

    @@omodiagbedominicedeoghon4607 I have lived experience of the event. I was a teenager when it occurred and it was a big story. The overwhelming reason New Coke failed was because the formula was changed. People vigorously rejected the new flavour.

  • @technophileguy1639
    @technophileguy1639 Жыл бұрын

    From india

  • @sanc9808
    @sanc9808 Жыл бұрын

    Facebook... oh I mean Meta.

  • @abirahmed1292
    @abirahmed1292 Жыл бұрын

    I guess this only works for physical product. After updating Instagram logo it didn't fail.

  • @omodiagbedominicedeoghon4607

    @omodiagbedominicedeoghon4607

    Жыл бұрын

    Besides, the new logo is an abstract version of the old one.

  • @emmanueloluga9770

    @emmanueloluga9770

    Жыл бұрын

    It didn’t fail as it didn’t add anything new, thus it didn’t even have any impact +ve or -ve to the brand value

  • @davidouma9084

    @davidouma9084

    11 ай бұрын

    Faced the reduction in users per say