Protecting a brand’s equity and value should be one of an executive’s key responsibilities. Companies buy protection software and use blacklists to stop questionable publishers and endorsers from negatively portraying their brand, for example. But what happens when the brand is displayed unfavorably in an environment that the marketer can’t control?
What To Do When the Devil Wears [Your Brand]
Strategies for when your brand becomes associated with a noxious public figure.
May 25, 2022
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Summary.
Consumers select brands they regard as matches to their self-image, and a positive public role model associated with your brand helps facilitate this comparison. Once consumers form adverse associations with your brand, this may result in decreased revenue and other financial harm. The more this happens, or the longer it continues unaddressed, the greater the threat that consumers will form a negative association between your brand and a controversial figure.
Managers who find themselves in a similar situation must ask the following three questions: What are the risks from such an incident? What can we do to counteract the criticism? What (if any) long-term consequences have brands suffered because of similar circumstances?