Making Lemonade

Happy Friday,

How was your week? Mine was filled with good times with people I enjoyed working with all year. It's so fun to be able to take a moment and be grateful for what was accomplished and recognize the efforts in such a not-so-boring, busy year.

Building a brand is fun work, but there's more to it than assembling a strong, sustainable brand; there's also protecting it. Crisis management is the key to the success of any brand (and any leader, for that matter). The ability of a brand to respond can either make or break its long-term future, and it all comes down to 3 simple things:

- Acknowledging the issue

- Having the top guy respond

- Overcorrecting

They are notorious examples of best-in-class brand responses, such as Tylenol 1982 poisoned laced capsule recall, Walmart stopping to sell short barrel ammunition or Zoom 2020 privacy and security issues.

And not so notorious examples of worst in class, such as Boeing and Facebook. And don't even get me started on Bud Light this year, who made sure to do just the opposite.

But in a world where content is created exponentially, brands need to up their game in monitoring what is said from many channels to reinforce or protect their brand value. Here are two pretty cool recent examples that have caught my attention; 

Reinforcing it: Stanley Cups are known for their quality cues. After all, they are built for life, So when Danielle's car burned down, leaving only her Stanley Cup (still with its ice in it, btw) standing. Within hours, Stanley had its president's response complete and delivered directly to her, and ultimately reinforcing their brand purpose and value.

Protecting it: North Face had a close call on their quality cues when an angry customer began going viral, demanding a redesign of their so-called waterproof jacket and immediate delivery to the top of Hooker Valley Lake in New Zealand. Their response was impressive and showcased the power of speedy social media marketing.

Proving that sometimes getting lemons is not all bad. 

Who doesn't like lemonade anyway?

See you next week.