What has branding got to do with the fallout of Big Brother?

Quite a lot actually.

Here we have an individual will no particular talent generating an £8 million fortune. And who now has very little chance of generating any more.

How did that happen?

Well, the rise and fall simply relates to branding.

You see, a brand is a promise. But a promise of what?

It is a promise of some benefit, a promise of quality, a promise of whatever it is we are seeking. We pay our money to receive this promise.

But aren't all products and services largely the same?

Of course they are! Truly unique advantages disappeared with the 60's. Since then brands have emerged which try to create a perception that they are different. And as consumers, that perception is our reality.

And so we come to the rise and fall of Jade. Something but actually nothing except a carefully managed trick of the mind that created a perception with enough people to earn her £8 million.

What was her brands promise? Well you tell me. Working class girl done good? I don't know but there was something to enough people to sell countless books and a perfume range.

What exactly does that perfume smell of?

Yet, when put in an environment without management, warts and all, we can see the reality and not the perception. And that reality is, well, not much really.

Years of carefully planned management to create a promise but then when that promise fails to deliver everything fails. This is the first rule of branding. Deliver on your promise!

So this is the lesson today.

Your brand is only as strong as the promise it delivers. When you fail to deliver you don't have a brand - you have empty words.

by Carl Duncker