#brand-independence

#brand-independence

"Magnum prevented Ben & Jerry's from putting out a post supporting Black History Month. (Ben & Jerry's) wanted to come out with a post calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Magnum prevented that. We wanted to support the student protesters. Magnum wouldn't allow that."

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a group of eight states have announced a proposed settlement with big ad agencies that will prevent them from working together to avoid certain platforms like X based on their political viewpoints.

Publicly traded companies are by legal definition and requirement completely amoral. They want only one thing, to raise their stock price, and the public good and common decency are just obstacles to be overcome or spun in that quest.

What most executives understand intellectually-but often underestimate in practice-is that a brand doesn't live in positioning statements or buzzy marketing campaigns. A brand lives in its people. Great brands have a strong, clear, and consistent core identity and they have leaders at every level who know how to carry that identity with confidence and courage.

"Any time you have to explain your name, you're essentially apologizing for it," says Alexandra Watkins, the founder of naming firm Eat My Words. Her deal-breakers for names include 'looks like a typo' and 'hard to pronounce.'

There is a persistent anxiety in brand storytelling that runs beneath the surface of nearly every conversation about reaching international audiences: that the closer a story is to its origin, the less likely it is to find purchase somewhere else. This assumption is responsible for many an organization filing down its content's edges in pursuit of a universal appeal that, paradoxically, renders it all the less memorable.

A big marker of brand success is recognition. When customers can pick out any of your products or services and easily identify them as part of your brand, you know you've made a lasting impression. A great example is Google, whose products and services are distinguishable from a mile off, from Gmail and Google Ads to Google Maps and Google Pay.

For much of the modern corporate era, brand has been treated as surface area. A story told outward. A set of signals designed to persuade, attract, and differentiate. When companies spoke about brand, they were usually talking about perception: how they looked in the market, how they sounded, how they were received. That framing made sense in a world where markets moved a little more slowly, organizations were stable, and leadership could afford to separate strategy from culture, product from meaning, execution from belief.

This year has been volatile for brands. With tariffs taking effect, the job market slowing, and consumer spending barely keeping pace with inflation, it's no surprise that ad spend has slowed in tandem. Amidst economic uncertainty and an onslaught of unanswered questions, brands are increasingly looking for demonstrable ROI in their marketing and design budgets. Some may choose to invest in a costly new campaign or commit to a new brand identity, while others will default to slashing their budgets altogether.

There are a variety of reasons why companies take the rebrand plunge, but one thing is certain - they feel the action is worth the risk. The consumer market is so highly competitive that brands often need to take drastic measures to stay relevant. For many companies it can take a massive overhaul to fuel a brand enough to push through the masses and stay top of mind for consumers.