Brand Arrest: Inertia Inhibits Brand Freedom

Defining Brand Inertia

Imagine two companies. Brand A believes in the phrase, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” This company chugs along at methodical pace, following the previously strategic, tactical and financial patterns that contributed to its historical success.

Conversely, Brand B is constantly tweaking performance, profits and people, standing by the mantra, “If it ain’t broke, break it!” This brand is continuously investing in the next best solutions model, a stronger market position and defendable competitive advantages. In the long-term, which brand is more valuable? A or B? Which describes your brand?

Being “committed to success” is not unusual for most leaders; executing the previous marketing plan/tactics, allocating the same resources and utilizing the same model is less taxing on the organization. Unfortunately, the result is often brand inertia.

Brand inertia is an organization’s failure to innovate or effectively manage change in its offerings portfolio. Inertia is often unrecognizable, disguised as staying focused on a goal or logical business decisions:

  • Myopic focus on initial objectives, regardless of current or future market conditions. (The plan is the plan; it can’t be changed.)
  • Belief that ample resources will mitigate the lack of organizational innovation. (Let the competition drive R&D, and then we will acquire them or duplicate them.)
  • Hesitant to risk a new strategy or business model without the existence of serious problems with the current model. (The strategy still works, albeit not very well.)
  • Recent capital investments – costs require a longer term to recoup (Sunk costs are difficult to recover.)
  • Inconclusive analytics indicate market trends are “temporary.” (It’s a short-term trend. Conditions will return to “normal.”)

The Inertia Effect: RIM’s Arrested Development

Some brands do drift anchorless, citing the need for flexibility; leadership believes this model enables innovation. Conversely, other brands remain anchored, fixating on a destination that is frequently not viable. Many brands implement their strategy with one or both of these approaches. Take Research in Motion (RIM). Once the leader in handheld mobile devices, RIM’s BlackBerry brand was synonymous with mobile business and consumer communications. RIM watched competitors offer more intricate mobile phones, ground breaking operating systems, disruptive tablets and structure breaking applications.

In 2007, BlackBerry had the most popular mobile phone portfolio. As the industry leader, RIM rested in its dominance, arrogantly watching upstarts redefine the industry. Before the end of 2008, both Apple and Google introduced groundbreaking mobile products and platforms. For the next few years, RIM attempted to regain its market position, launching unsuccessful products (Storm, Playbook, etc.) and watching its core customers defect to more innovative and productive options.

At its height, BlackBerry owned more than 50% of the mobile phone market. By Q2 2013, RIM’s share of mobile units sales was a minuscule 1.1%, down from 4% versus the same quarter 2012, according to Kantar Worldpanel. These metrics included the Z10 and Q10, both introduced with much fanfare in Q1.

In September 2013, BlackBerry announced steep losses and more than 4,500 layoffs. A few days later, the brand signed a $4.7 billion deal to be acquired and taken private. Within five years, RIM’s dominant mobile phone position was lost to the likes of Apple, Google and others. What precipitated the decline? The global service outage of 2011? Not listening to changing consumer demands? Slow response to competitive phone and tablet advances? Recognizing the importance and proliferation of applications? Brand inertia.

Inertia = Arrest

Leadership’s inertia “crimes” often imprison innocent brands. Management pins their hopes on the mercy of the “consumer justice system,” pleading for the strategy transgression to be forgiven and forgotten. Managers that continuously expect customers to ignore major crimes often find their brands serving very serious prison terms, as customers frequently issue very harsh sentences when their hearts are broken.

Conversely, leadership expects marketing to bail out the brand after poor decisions. They demand the key players acquire and destroy any signs of inertia crimes before the market convicts. Employees are asked to acquire and destroy the arrest record and mug shot, as if the bad decision (arrest) never occurred. Unbeknown to leadership, bail is denied for many crimes of inertia. In other cases, bail is too high and the marketing lacks the collateral required to post bond.

Freedom has a Price: Disruption

With disruptions abound, unrestricted (free) brands continually exhibit the ability to be insightful, nimble and innovative. These brands do not only expect disruption, they create it – as a competitive advantage. Don’t let your brand’s entrenched success lead to inertia and vulnerability. Even worse, demise.

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