Introduction

You are about to learn some amazing, shocking, and sad tales about all kinds of brands. From dominant global brands to start-ups and nonprofits, from celebrities and professionals in all fields to entire countries, I’ve worked with all kinds of brands and witnessed the rise and fall of many.

While the details are different, all brands strive for one universal goal: to be the brand of choice. Each brand wants to be loved, respected, sustainable, and bearing meaningful fruit—profits, fame, votes, or whatever represents achievement—for its stakeholders to enjoy. One might imagine that in today’s world with its multimillion-dollar budgets, rooms full of MBAs, and 47 focus groups, brands would no longer stumble. Yet they do. Why? Among the myriad reasons: no budget, no experience, no formal education, bad choices and a slew of bad luck, decisions by committee, egos the size of Texas, underfunded programs, overspending on stuff that really does not matter, inability or unwillingness to change, moving too slowly, pulling the trigger ....