Importance of Brand Identity

BlackBerry announced the release of their new smartphone the Blackberry 10 this week, and the tech world has been buzzing with reactions to the new device. For a brand that has become rather irrelevant over the last 5 years, the move reflects a bold new approach that hopes to revitalize the brand.

The brand image for BlackBerry since its heyday was the professional's phone. It was the first phone to offer internet and email connection, it had a qwerty keyboard which made typing more efficient, and a high level of security making it ideal for government jobs. As time progressed and the market developed though, BlackBerry failed to adapt. The famous keyboard became outdated, but instead of modernizing their product, they clung to the feature as a product differentiator. Unfortunately, few consumers appreciated it as much as they wanted to use a touch screen, and the result was an exodus of BlackBerry users moving toward the iPhone.

Now, with the BlackBerry 10, I would argue the product has lost any resemblance of its prior identity. It is now simply an iPhone imitator, one look at the design says it all. The BlackBerry now says "Look, I'm cool and hip too!" whereas it should have found whitespace in the market. This new release was an opportunity to re-establish the brand as the "professional" phone. The iPhone and Androids available are incredibly fun and hip, but BlackBerry should have created a device that was more of a tool than a toy. It is. after all. how they were successful in the first place. Consumers don't want an iPhone wanna-be, they want an iPhone or they want something differentiated.

Time will tell how the BlackBerry 10 fits into the market, but I think the failure to embrace its own brand identity is a critical flaw. Abandoning the outdated and infamous keyboard is one thing, but trying to create a better iPhone or Droid is a dead end endeavor. Brand identity is not something to abandon so easily, especially when you have a powerful and distinguished one as BlackBerry once did.

LiveStrong Long Gone?

Lance Armstrong has been back in the news for all the wrong reasons lately, and things seem to be going from bad to worse for the former athletic legend. After being caught for cheating and covering his epic fabrication, Armstrong was stripped of all seven of his Tour de France championships. The fallout was tremendous, anything carrying Lance's LiveStrong brand was taken off shelves and moved to discount stores nationwide. Public opinion of Lance soared south, and things seemed to hit rock bottom a few weeks ago.

In the wake of all this, Armstrong decided it was finally time to come clean and admit his mistakes, since up until a week ago he had maintained innocence. However even in apologizing, Armstrong came across as an arrogant psychopath by only agreeing to offer an interview with Oprah on primetime television. Instead of coming forward in a press conference (the way these admissions are usually offered) and apologizing for cheating, lying to the world for years and relentlessly attacking anyone who tried to expose him, Armstrong tried to justify himself. He didn't view himself as cheating but as "leveling the playing field". Are you kidding!? The interview was received by the public as a joke, and Lance only dug himself further into his enormous PR hole.

I would venture to say that the consequence of this mess is the death of Nike's LiveStrong brand. The first solution in this situation would be to dissociate from the brand's sponsor, but in this case the two are too deeply intertwined. LiveStrong is Lance Armstrong, and vice versa. And as far as Armstrong goes, his legacy is forever tarnished. We can look at other fallen athletes like Michael Vick or Tiger Woods as examples of a strong personal brand recovery, but those are different situations. Both of those men redeemed themselves by admitting their wrongs in an acceptable way (not being prima donna and requesting an Oprah interview) and then moving forward in their respective sports to try and help people forgive and forget. Lance does not have this option, not only did his apology anger even more people, but he will never be able to win a Tour de France without the aid of PEDs. Perhaps he will race again, but an average or even below average performance will only remind folks of how he achieved his greatness in the first place, cheating.

LiveStrong is left with one real option; folding. Even in a forgiving country built on offering second chances, Lance's transgressions are too severe and his legacy forever tainted. For Nike, I can only hope they accept this, and bury the once powerful brand with its once powerful representative.

Shifting Strategy for a Struggling Brand

JCPenny has been a staple of shopping malls across the country for decades, but lately the firm has struggled to keep sales up. In response, the retail giant hired Ron Johnson as their new CEO (details can be found here). Johnson was responsible for the design of the Apple Retail stores, and his expertise will be used to create a new retail space within JCPenny's stores as well. Now, Johnson will begin creating smaller "Shops" within the larger stores that are based on certain brands (for instance the Levi's Store). Shops will also offer couches and wifi to create a hangout environment, and finally the store will no longer offer periodic storewide sales. Instead, they will focus on providing consistently lower price points.

Although the company has said the first stores to implement the new strategy have seen improved sales, I think this example illustrates a mismatched product and strategy. Other retailers like Apple and Starbucks have embraced similar strategies that transform their retail space into hangout spots, but these are very different types of products. In both cases, hanging out in the store is tied directly with the products since you are either drinking Starbucks coffee or using Apple products to browse the internet. Although you force this strategy on a clothing store like JCPenny, you can't force the customer to interact with the product. Instead of being a showcase for your product or allowing customers free trial, you spend a fortune to renovate stores without the benefit that the other companies gain.

The fact that JCPenny has looked to update a stale in-store experience is commendable, but like always, action needs to be paired with honest analysis about your product. If the strategy doesn't complement your product, then it isn't the best option. We'll see how this investment pays off over time, and also if it sparks other clothing retailers to adopt this aggressive strategy.