When brand promises don't deliver

This article takes a look at what can happen when companies talk about promises but don't deliver to their customers.

Brand strength is often quantified in terms of the customer's perceptions of, and attitudes towards, a company - the closer the customer experience is to the 'brand promise', the stronger the brand. And strong brands enjoy long term customer loyalty, top line growth and increased shareholder value.

Many companies, however, fail in their attempts to marry the brand promise with the delivery. In most cases, this is not the result of 'brand laziness', or a failure to comprehend the central importance of the brand promise and experience to the health of the company. Rather, organisations are repeatedly tripping over hidden barriers to an effective marriage of brand promise and delivery.

The results of an 'advertising first' approach to brand management can be catastrophic. Far too often companies skip right to what they see as the juicy stuff - disregarding the key fact that the brand identity must, by definition, define the outputs of creative media campaigns.