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2025 has brought with it a ton of chaos for everyone--and big name brands are no exception. Whether we like it or not, politics are infused into everything these days, and when people feel divided it's a recipe for disaster.
That's why it's more important than ever to have a strong brand strategy.
Brand Marketing Mistakes In the News
When you have a brand strategy that is built on a solid foundation, it's much harder to make brand marketing missteps. Operating in alignment with the core of your brand makes sure that there's little room for miscommunication and misunderstanding with your audience.
There have been a handful of big brands that have made major brand marketing mistakes over the past few weeks, proving that no one is immune to the pitfalls of a weak brand strategy.
Take a look at the brands that have flopped so that we can all fly...
#1: Target: Woefully Misunderstanding Their Audience
Shortly after the 2024 election was decided, Target chose to terminate it's DEI program. But their audience issues go back farther than that: in June 2023, they launched Pride Month initiatives at their stores and faced backlash from disgruntled (and bigoted) customers. Feeling the pressure after the bad Pride press, they saw an opening to cancel their DEI as soon as it became politically expedient.
But just as they misjudged the Pride Day backlash (which created more backlash with their LGBTQ fanbase, and made them seem like they were virtue signaling), their decision to cancel their DEI initiatives also had massive consequences for the business. Proving that they had greatly misunderstood who their core audience was, Target's stock price tanked and now shareholders are suing them because they allege that company leadership failed "to warn inventors about how removing DEI and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) policies could cause stock prices to plummet."
Looking at this through my brand strategy lens, this legal battle is actually a product of poor brand strategy. When you operate from a strong foundation of who you serve and what you stand for, it's easy to make decisions that remain in alignment with what your audience wants and needs. When you're focused exclusively on growth, you end up trying to market to everyone, which means you're connecting with no one. Understanding your audience is the key to long term brand success.
#2: Blake Lively: A Personal Brand Built on Fluff
Oh, the movie marketing disaster of it all! The "It Ends With Us" drama took one look at "Don't Worry Darling" and told it to hold its beer. The internet was abuzz when two things happened around the marketing of "It Ends With Us"; first, fans knew something was up when director Justin Baldoni was not on the red carpet with the rest of the cast at the premiere. And second, on the heels of that PR disaster, fans started to attack Blake Lively online for co-marketing her hair care line along with the movie instead of shining a spotlight on the very real issue of domestic violence that surrounds the theme of the movie.
As the internet turned against Blake Lively, they went back and found old footage of her acting unkind and saying out of touch things, using her own actions against her. Despite how the lawsuits will play out in court, Blake Lively is losing in the court of public opinion, and it could have a detrimental impact on her career for years to come.
Again, setting aside the legal issues, I see this as being a product of a weak personal brand. Blake Lively was able to parlay her role on the hit show Gossip Girl into her own personal brand--a beautiful girl with beautiful hair and beautiful clothes and beautiful friends. But outside of that, what was her brand about? What did she stand for? What are the values she's driven by? What does she believe in? All of that was very unclear, which is why it was so easy for her brand to collapse like a house of cards when the internet was activated.
#3: Tesla: Operating Out of Alignment With Brand Values
For years, Tesla was focused on innovating electric vehicles because they were trying to solve a huge problem facing humanity: the climate crisis. In fact, on their website their mission is cited clearly, that "in pursuit of our mission to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy, we build products that are designed to replace some of the planet’s biggest polluters."
So, when their CEO, Elon Musk, who has become synonymous with Tesla over the last decade, joined forces with a political party that aims to destroy environmental protections and rollback policies that would help the U.S. achieve sustainability, it left many Tesla fans with a bad taste in their mouths. In fact, a third of current Tesla owners have admitted to wanting to sell their Tesla according to a new study. In fact, participants admitted to feeling embarrassed to be associated the brand.
When you are a mission-driven brand and articulate those clear intentions and values, it's important to have everyone who works for the brand--including (and maybe most importantly) the CEO--act in alignment with those values. When the audience begins to sense that the brand has abandoned those very values that first drew them in, they will jump ship and it becomes nearly impossible to ever win them back.
Building A Brand With A Strong Foundation
As you can see, even the biggest of brands (and stars) are not immune to brand disasters. Thankfully, I love learning from other people's mistakes. It saves time, money, and a whole lot of heartache.
While you might not have your sights set on total world domination (yet!), brands of every size can benefit from investing in their brand strategy. And yes, that also applies to personal brands. If you want a brand expert to guide you through the process of putting a strategy in place, you know where to find me.
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