Is your brand in mid life crisis?

The challenge a brand faces in its life cycle is similar to that of a human: to put off decline as long as possible. Now, unfortunately, there’s no quick fix for a brand. It can’t buy a fast car, or get nipped and tucked.

Actually, new developments in neuroscience suggest that human midlife may offer new opportunities beyond discretionary purchasing power. The tough part is identifying these possibilities and developing them. Similarly, midway in a brand’s life cycle, there is a need to consider all the possibilities, and perhaps set new priorities or investigate new strategic, tactical or creative directions for the brand. It should be a time for re-evaluation and renewal so that growth or maturity can be extended and decline avoided as long as possible.

Stem a midlife crisis by avoiding it in the first place.

Taking time to establish the brand is key. Proper pre-launch planning can drive the brand to peak sales soon after it is launched. This entails starting the branding process while still in clinical development, to establish personality, a lexicon and awareness prior to launch--often as early as Phase 2. The process is quite complex. It involves a thorough understanding of the customers, the construct of the market, the competition and the clinical milieu in the context of our brand and its various scenarios as well as those of current and future competitive brands. Planning for this early on will ensure that we are ready to avert any obstacles to the brand’s success.

Post launch growth phase: reflect, analyze, ideate and act!

So what if you inherit a brand post launch? Your task becomes much more difficult, but still achievable. In the words of Will Rogers, “Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” Convincing corporate constituents of the need for change can be challenging. By virtue of your short tenure as manager on the brand, you see things differently. You have the opportunity here to reflect on what should be considered success and what should not. You can be the source of new energy, champion of new possibilities. If the trajectory of the brand is stalled, it may need to be given a little gas. Post launch should not only be a time of reflection and analysis, but also a time for ideas, and most important, a time for action. Alternative approaches can now be carefully considered. The brand has sales, which means a proportion of the marketing budget may be available for a bit of risk taking. As we all know, no risk, no reward!

Maturity: is it too late to learn how to ride a horse?

At this point, have the engrams about your brand been burned in, like on an old plasma TV? What to do? Maybe, just maybe, it is time for a complete makeover and a serious reflection upon new thinking. Banish the words: “yes, but”. Look outside of pharma for ideas or analogies or new angles. Get in touch with your inner child, preferably at age two. This IS the time to ask “Why?” And, the time to be bold, be courageous, be different. In the words of Albert Einstein, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Recent studies show that creativity is augmented when the left and right brains are more integrated. How, as marketers, can we make the most of that phenomenon? Lateral thinking is a good place to start, and for most, the jumping off point is market research. Keep in mind it is important to use research to shed light, rather than for support as a drunkard uses a lamppost.

Maybe it’s time to bring in a new agency. Or, request a new team from your existing agency. Some of the greatest consumer marketers in the US routinely rotate their brand people every 2 years. There’s a reason for that.

As Galileo, the inventor of the scientific method, said, ‘All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.” For brands in mid-life crisis, there’s got to be a systematic process for evaluating a brand’s equities and its anchors. Look for a partner who has one. And who is not afraid to give you alternatives that complement—not duplicate your way of thinking.