“To market at the speed of culture, you need to be clear on your purpose. Brands that are clear on this can deliver new initiatives quickly because they understand why they are doing it and how it aligns with their brand values.” - Carolyn Bendall, Head of Marketing, ANZ

Every brand has a life cycle. 

But because people think of the “life cycle” as something that is part of some inevitable bell curve, it’s more accurately “The Survival Curve of a Brand” since it shows the brand at any point in its life which could be great, average, in a demise, in a death spiral or in a recovery or rebound.

I call it “the survival curve” since it shows the health (or oncoming demise) of a brand. Or put another way, it’s any brand’s Elevation or Decline.

For the purpose of this discussion, I’ll use the metaphor of a plane in flight which seems to work given the 7 stages every brand has (or will) encountered over a long or brief period of time.

They are:

1. Soaring
2. Coasting
3. Pigeonholed
4. Deep decline
5. Soul searching
6. Rescue mission
7. Catastrophe averted

Brand Elevation Explained

On one end of the spectrum, the vital signs are healthy with your brand growing and expanding and proactive in its activities. It’s in the zone and is calling its own shots. This is a luxury flight with best personnel, most comfortable chairs and finest food and drinks.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have contraction and erosion with the brand frantic and in a reactive mode, responding to every little shift and bump. In short, the business climate is determining the company’s culture and is reacting to what’s happening around it (which is vastly different from anticipating shifts and planning how to maximize those changes). This is the flight from hell.

The Survival Curve of a Brand

Realize you are in the cockpit and you determine the flight plan.

You may have to change it along the way for a successful flight plan and landing where you want to end up.

The above graphic helps you identify where you are and what you need to do to get back on course.

Travel lightly with a good change of clothing and bare mecessities, so you too can defy gravity and rise above the noise.

Originally published on Linkedin Pulse