I was watching an old movie about a bank robbery the other night. And all I could think about was how you would never be able to get away with robbing a bank in the same way today.
There’s too much technology, too many cameras, too much recording happening all around us. What was possible just twenty years ago isn’t possible anymore.
That progress continues, with effects that can be hard to fully appreciate until they become commonplace.
I think about that when it comes to the existence of brands.
Consumer brands are quite a recent invention. Before the Industrial Revolution, people relied on merchants’ recommendations to guide their purchasing decisions.
Once mass production became a thing, brands became a thing. It wasn’t until the 1950s that CPG companies developed brand management as a discipline. And it wasn’t until the 1990s that retail companies had proper marketing departments. In the arc of history, that’s less than the blink of an eye.
Today, we have an overflowing glut of mediocre brands that are commodities convincing themselves they are changing the world. That they alone are special, different. A few of them are, but not many.
As the use of AI increases, what’s possible is changing. And I believe that will impact the very existence of brands as we know them.
Mediocrity won’t cut it when AI agents can parse every detail of your offering and determine whether your product or service meets the needs of an individual customer. And mediocrity won’t cut it when humans demand a stronger relationship with brands that put the customers at the center of everything.
If you’re one of those businesses in the mediocre middle and you’re not excelling at either execution of relationships, there’s not going to be much room for you.
How do you know if you’re mediocre?
- You are not number one or two in your industry by revenue
- You are fighting on price, but you’re not number one or two in your industry
- You have an NPS score lower than 70
- You don’t have exceptional referral and repeat rates
- You rely on a loyalty program for retention
- Your staff turnover rate is in double digits
That list is debatable and likely incomplete, but it gives you the gist.
We all think our company, like our babies, is the cutest and most precious in the world. But you have to look at your company objectively if you’re going to position yourself for a future where mediocre brands just won’t cut it anymore.