There is a trend we’ve been seeing this year and it’s happening in the C-suite.
A bunch of new CEOs are coming into companies in distress.
These shifts have implications for brands:
There are lots of stories of new CEOs coming in and inadvertently screwing up the brands that they are taking over. The new CEOs come in and make a big change, but they can make the big change in the wrong way.
Ron Johnson was the man behind the iconic Apple Stores. Coming off of his huge retail success at Apple, he became the CEO of JCPenney. During his tenure there, he made changes that almost sunk the company. The biggest (and costly) change he made was doing away with coupons. What Johnson didn’t realize was that JCPenney customers loved the coupon experience, and he lost those customers when he took coupons away.
In the above case, Johnson’s biggest mistake as CEO happened because he didn’t take the time to understand the real equity of the new company he was coming into.
This case study example shares an important lesson for any new incoming CEO: start with asking the right questions before making big sweeping actions.
When Mike Eskew came in as the new CEO of UPS, he wanted to change the direction of the company from just package shipments to supply chain management because there was a huge opportunity in that market. Eskew did it by understanding the equity that made UPS so good at package shipping and translating that equity to a new audience and application. He took UPS’s brand equity and re-energized it in a way that opened up a new avenue of growth for the company. All because of asking the right questions.
Like Eskew, if Johnshon asked the right questions at JCPenney, he wouldn’t have done away with coupons. He would have built changes around the customers relationship with the coupon experience and maybe had a different outcome for the company. Make sure to ask about the current equity that sustains the company’s brand if you’re an incoming CEO.
At this transformational moment, marketing leaders also need to step up. They need to take a similar approach as their new CEO counterparts, but as an advocate for the equity of the brand.
The existing marketers at the company know the brand best and can help the new CEO know the equity to plot the right path forward together. To start, they can work with the CEO to fill any knowledge gaps by diagnosing where the company is from its customers to even employees. This can be done through a variety of research methodologies from quantitative surveys to stakeholder interviews to focus groups.
This is a critical time to make sure that the future of the company is built on a strong foundation of knowledge, continuing on strengths and not points of weakness or competitive threats. Make sure to partner with the new incoming CEO to establish a shared understanding of the brand’s current equity.
It is an exciting time in lots of companies when there’s a change at the top, especially for the incoming CEO and existing marketers.
An incoming CEO should prioritize understanding the brand's equity before making changes by asking the right questions to prevent avoidable, lasting mistakes. For marketing leaders, it's a critical time to be the biggest advocate of the company’s brand by filling any knowledge gaps of the brand's equity with the new CEO.
Together, they can sustain and then expand on the brand’s strengths for the future.
Matt Williams is chief growth officer and managing partner for Brand Federation. Prior to joining Brand Federation in 2019, Matt was CEO of The Martin Agency, one of the world’s most creatively recognized advertising agencies. Over his 26-year career at Martin, he helped the agency become the 25th-largest in the US and managed brand strategy development for world-class brands like GEICO, OREO, UPS, Discover Financial, Walmart, and Benjamin Moore. Matt also is a Clinical Professor in the marketing department at the Mason School of Business at William & Mary. He teaches in the MBA program and is the developer and Faculty Director of the school’s Online Masters in Marketing.
Rian Chandler-Dovis is Chief Product Officer at Brand Federation. She blends strong business acumen with creative thinking to uncover deep, actionable insights, and has developed strategies for dozens of the world’s best known brands, including General Motors, American Express, Samsung, PepsiCo, Colgate, Macy’s, MIT, World Wildlife Fund, and others.
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