Branding Faux Pas

As promised, because of Ecency's recent addition of their email marketing tool I've decided to get back into the swing of things when it comes to building online businesses using this glorious blockchain!

Well let me rephrase that....I want to TALK about using the tools on chain to help people building their businesses or brands here. I truly believe, we have some of the greatest #web3 features anywhere, and there is no reason why people can't use them to build anything they wish!

And I thought it would be a great 'intro' to these business building series by going over some examples of corporate branding or better yet, examples of what not to do when it comes to branding.

Story time....

Tonight my family decided to have some pizza for dinner. Nothing out of the ordinary there, but we chose Pizza Hut of all places.

Growing up when I did, Pizza Hut literally meant family. Most of the franchises where actual sit down family restaurants and there was something incredible about sitting down at the table, getting a piping hot pizza served to you and drinking Pepsi out of those cold red plastic cups...

This was my childhood!

Now obviously I wasn't expecting that kind of nostalgia when we ordered tonight, but it made me question why a massive brand like Pizza Hut would ever go away from what made them memorable?

Cost savings. That's it!

The issue is, to save some bucks the company literally killed their brand of being...A family restaurant.

Now it's a regular old take out place. And honestly, the pizza was pretty bad as there are much better options out there these days.

The point is, never forget what makes your brand stand out from the crowd. Pizza Hut's brand was...Atmosphere and family. Now it's...Greasy pizza?

Take another example of something I recently saw on Twitter (or X....Talk about branding huh lol)

Now obviously, there is much more to this story because...Selling donuts and coffee can never be the sole focus of a publicly traded company.

But the sticking point again was....Atmosphere.

I remember when Krispy Kreme opened their first franchise in Toronto was back in the early 2000's. There were line ups for miles...In fact, I remember my friends and I actually driving across the city just to get a taste of these incredible donuts.

And if you remember that 'assembly line' you'll remember how amazing those hot and fresh donuts were. There was something remarkable about seeing what you were about to eat, being made in front of you...It's a big reason why Subway became so popular...

So to save costs, they ditched the assembly lines and tried to even partner with companies like McDonalds to serve their donuts to people...

I'm never going to McDonalds for donuts.

Faux pas!

What they should have done, is kept the assembly line but then diversified their menu. For example, in Canada the franchise of all franchises is....Tim Horton's.

And whether you like the company or not, they understood that they would never last if they just served coffee and a baker's dozen every day.

Now you go there and it's sandwiches, designer coffees and drinks, snacks and even pizza...And while this doesn't work for every brand, Tim's works because it allowed them to branch out, but still keep what make them famous, front and center.

Could that have worked for Krispy Kreme? Maybe, maybe not. But taking away what makes your brand GREAT is never a good idea.

Those are just two example of amazing companies that sacrificed what made them remarkable just to save a few bucks...

My advice, never comprise on what makes you stand out! If you have to go the extra mile to cut costs, fine. But never take away what attracted your customers to you in the first place.

I really want a Kripsy Kreme donut now lol