Relevance. It's tough to gain and even tougher to maintain. As a consumer brand, if you're not relevant to your consumers, you die. It's a harsh reality of business.
I look out of my office window at two reminders of Brand Relevance Lost every day. Two reminders that are very close to me -- physically and emotionally.
When I moved to KC from Phoenix in 1995, two of my largest clients were Western Auto and Stuart Hall.
For those of you under 40:
Western Auto was one of the largest and oldest auto parts & accessories retailers in the country. They had over 1000 stores. They were a truly iconic American brand. They sold the Western Flyer red wagon that most kids had growing up. They were bought by Sears in the late '90's and the brand eventually disappeared. Their corporate offices in midtown KC are on the Historic Registry and have now been converted to swanky lofts.
Stuart Hall was the leading manufacturer of licensed school and office paper products. I worked on licensed designs of school notebooks, portfolios and binders featuring properties like The Coca-Cola Polar Bears, Disney characters, Warner Brothers cartoons and Lisa Frank illustrations. They were #2 in a huge category. In the late '90's, they were swallowed by #1, Mead, and away the brand faded. Their historic midtown headquarters (in the long shadow of the Western Auto building) has also been converted to lofts.
Western Auto was one of the largest and oldest auto parts & accessories retailers in the country. They had over 1000 stores. They were a truly iconic American brand. They sold the Western Flyer red wagon that most kids had growing up. They were bought by Sears in the late '90's and the brand eventually disappeared. Their corporate offices in midtown KC are on the Historic Registry and have now been converted to swanky lofts.
Stuart Hall was the leading manufacturer of licensed school and office paper products. I worked on licensed designs of school notebooks, portfolios and binders featuring properties like The Coca-Cola Polar Bears, Disney characters, Warner Brothers cartoons and Lisa Frank illustrations. They were #2 in a huge category. In the late '90's, they were swallowed by #1, Mead, and away the brand faded. Their historic midtown headquarters (in the long shadow of the Western Auto building) has also been converted to lofts.
Two brands at the top of their games just a decade ago. Two brands that have disappeared into the history book of used-to-be's.
I look at those buildings everyday. They remind me to stay connected to my clients' consumers. If we just focus on the bottomline and forget what people really want -- if we stop listening to our customers and believe our own egos -- we will fail. It happens to big, venerable brands every year.
Let's stay relevant. It applies to people as well as brands.
What brands do you miss?
- Butch
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