Reinvention starts with getting brutally honest about what isn’t working.
There are many reasons once-stellar brands begin to fail, and in my decades in the advertising business, I have just about seen them all — weak leadership, internal corporate politics, or not having the right people in the room when solutions are being crafted. The heart of the problem is a refusal to face reality and get honest about the more deeply rooted causes of why they are performing badly.
Instead, these organizations continue telling the story brands want to sell, not what consumers need to know. They begin a campaign with a predetermined outcome in mind and then reverse-engineer everything else to fit that narrative. The role of marketing is to act as the translator that reconciles what brands care about deeply and what is important to consumers — abetted by the creative agency charged with executing the reinvention. Here are the stories of four brands who adjusted their entire marketing approach by paying attention to the people who matter the most: their customers.
1. Products for Men, Bought by Women
Sometimes, facing reality leaves nothing left to do but make bold changes. But first, do your research and use social change as creative inspiration. Back in 2010, it appeared the male grooming products under the Old Spice brand were stuck in the past. Known as your granddad’s cologne, Old Spice evoked the image of a dashingly handsome New England sailor with a bag over his shoulder, whistling and attracting the stares of the dockside ladies. The image was hopelessly outdated. So, with seemingly nothing to lose, Procter & Gamble did a 180-degree turn.
Rather than deny the Old Spice heritage, they parodied masculine stereotypes in the “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign featuring former NFL player Isaiah Mustafa. The ad’s comic reinvention of “Old Spice Guy” was not the most fundamental shift involved in the rebranding, however. It was the fact the campaign was built on research that showed that 60% of body wash purchases were made by women.
The tagline was designed to appeal to women, not men. In other words, do not be afraid to shift focus to a new market if that is where the data is pointing.
2. Building New Relationships Based on Values
Marketers cannot afford to remain loyal to what worked before. But it can be especially tough to convince venerable brands of the need for change. Like Old Spice, Cadillac was associated with older generations — but even baby boomers had already moved on to buying BMWs, Mercedes, and Audis. Therein was an opportunity: marketing to today’s younger generations required a shift from the 122-year-old brand’s traditional focus on luxury to a spirit and attitude of optimism.
Launched during the 2015 Oscars, Cadillac’s “Dare Greatly” campaign features iconoclasts such as Steve Wozniak, Anne Wojcicki, and Jason Wu talking about their paths to unconventional success. The ads were a celebration of innovation and disruption that tore up the script of relying on “American cliches.” They also showed that if you are going to pivot to a younger market, recognize the old rules no longer apply.
Make content that inspires and engages so the audience develops a relationship with the brand that is built on values and trust.
3. Honesty and Transparency Pays
If a brand is really struggling, there is no substitute for radical self-honesty. Any form of spin-doctoring will be found out. So, turn into, not away from, the truth. Domino’s took this one step further when it actually folded public criticism into its 2010 “Pizza Turnaround” campaign. By 2008, its sales had fallen off a cliff, and the chain received complaint after complaint that its pizzas tasted like cardboard. Not only did Domino’s then launch a public mea culpa but brought the consumer along with them in fixing the problem.
The campaign gave people an inside view of Domino’s test kitchen and leaders listening to scathing feedback in previously confidential videos of internal focus groups. The vision of chefs creating new recipes sold the idea of giving the pizza chain a second chance and helped online sales begin to generate a much larger slice of revenue.
The lesson here is that people appreciate transparency. Acknowledging and addressing shortcomings can rebuild public trust. For Domino’s, honesty certainly paid off. From a share price of $2.61 in 2008, it sits around $500 today.
4. Creating a Lifestyle Revolution
We often see campaigns that turn around a brand’s perception only after new leadership has come in and offered another lens. However, remain open to fresh perspectives, no matter their source. The four women founders of the online shopping blog and Instagram account, The Buy Guide, so loved the Stanley Quencher that they bought 10,000 of the insulated tumblers at a time when they were hardly visible in the marketplace. They sold the first 5,000 Quenchers to their mostly women followers in four days and the second 5,000 within hours. Leaders at Stanley, the 111-year-old brand that had always marketed its drinkware to workmen and outdoorsmen, were blown away.
Stanley brought the influencers on board as partners. The collaboration helped catalyze a strategic color and lifestyle revolution in which the brand switched its attention to women aged 25 to 50. The one-time thermos for tough guys has since become a collectible fashion accessory.
Be open to strategic partnerships that allow you to see a brand in a new light and then follow the discretionary income. Stanley’s revenue has jumped accordingly, from $73 million in 2019 to $402 million in 2022.
Face Reality Or Risk Irrelevance
When brands are struggling, it is usually easy to identify the “what” of the problem — the surface-level issues — but harder to identify the “why.” These four case studies show that facing up to the reality of root causes can open up many paths to success. Dancing around the truth won’t protect organizations from change but, like Cadillac, if brands dare to let go of what strategies worked before, they can break new ground.
As previously published on Forbes.com here.
