The 3 step framework for resetting your brand for long term success

(CMO & CEO 1:1 debating the ideal 3 step framework for doing a brand reset)(This is part 3/4 of the critically unaccalimed series of a once-epic brand realizing they've been chasing revenue to the detriment of overall brand desirability in the marketplace - something all brands experience. See comments for parts 1, 2 & 4)


CMO: here's HOW we'll do this brand reset

CEO: I'm equally scared out of my mind and pumped to do what's right long term.

CMO: ton of progress yesterday. let's keep it going. third component of the "how": timelines. this will take multiple years

CEO: buzzkill

CMO: fourth, priorities. revenue is no longer a priority. you might be thinking - "ok let's just gut costs and get more profitable". that's not the correct prioritization either.

CEO: foiled again!

CMO: prioritization is an output of an audit of everything we're doing, evaluated by "Does this thing increase the long term desirability of our brand?". if you look at all the direct response ads we're running and optimizing the heck out of - would you honestly say it passes the above desirability filter?

CEO: nope.

CMO: fifth: dollars. once we've run everything through the desirability filter, we move to the cash filter. we'll edit revenue projections, inventory, current and upcoming SKUs, our wholesale relationships, and our fixed costs. while we'll cut in several areas, we'll increase our brand building investments, knowing full well it will not drive short term revenue like our direct response did, but is essential

CEO: this is going to be a fun presentation at the next all-hands.

CMO: which brings me to people, the 6th component. while certainly not always the case, there may be some hard personnel calls to make. the hard truth is that a fraction of the things we're doing are both essential and accretive to our brand's long term desirability. we also need to acknowledge that for some of the key seats on the bus, we might not have the right people

CEO: gosh this is going to be so hard.

CMO: now, part 7: incentive compensation. when we define exactly and objectively what a successful brand reset will be for us, we'll also define quarterly milestones. We will need to heavily incentivize our team based explicitly on hitting these milestones. the incentives need to get bigger and bigger to maximize long term commitment. over-invest here.

CEO: now - communicating this to stakeholders. can't say I'm looking forward to this

CMO: the frameworks we've discussed will make this way easier.
- we, and our best people know this needs to be done
- we have countless examples of other great brands going through this
- we have a structure for defining exactly what a successful brand reset looks like
- we have the 8 part framework defining how we're going to get there.

ultimately, neither the team, nor the investors want to see this brand flounder

CEO: on monday, we define exactly WHAT the successful brand reset looks like, yea?

CMO: 🎊
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