John Malmo

Nothing is more important in any business than its brand. And branding is very serious business. But what’s even harder than branding, is RE-branding.

Building a brand from scratch is very hard. Not for quitters. But at least you’re trying to reach open minds. As in, Now there’s a place to buy tacos, and it’s called Taco Bell. But if you add hamburgers and re-brand as, say, Taco & Burger Bell, people probably will never quit saying Taco Bell.

Little boys growing up in the ‘Thirties were taught not to start something that they couldn’t finish. Initially, that meant don’t punch somebody bigger than you in the nose.

It’s a wonderful warning to keep in your head throughout your career. Because a starter who can’t finish loses credibility. Socially. Athletically. In government and business.

Great ideas that don’t materialize have little value. From track to golf, and in every business career, it’s not how you start. It’s how you finish. 

There are few devices better than an icon, or mascot, to help build personality and awareness for a brand.   And creating a successful icon is not a terribly difficult process.   But Burger King managed to screw it up.

As for personal tastes, I have always thought a Burger King hamburger was the best-tasting among fast-foot burgers. But the weird-looking, and weirder-acting, speechless, and spooky king that’s driven Burger King advertising for years is a dud.

Thankfully, new Burger King owners think so, too, because he’s being dethroned.

Soda straws have been with us for a hundred-and-twenty-five years. The first patent was issued in Eighteen-Eighty-Eight. And you used to get one at soda fountains for fountain Cokes and milk shakes.

How is it that all of a sudden, even in nice restaurants, a glass of ice-water comes with a soda straw stuck in it? I don’t ask for a straw. Yet, every cold beverage arrives with a soda straw. Why is this?

When I think about all the inventions and discoveries in my lifetime, it’s mind-boggling. Plastic. Television. Computers. Cell Phones. Jet airplanes. Color photography. 

And that doesn’t scratch the surface.

But I believe the most extraordinary marketing successes have been achieved for two products that are centuries old: drinking water and music.