By: Ron Farnum
After 30 years in branding, I’ve seen how important a brand promise is as a connection between a brand and its users. But many brand promises don’t succeed, often because they don’t reflect the authentic DNA of an organization. That’s a recipe for failure. Why is this important?
Consider Target’s experience this past year. Once considered an Advocate, Target was the rare retailer that accepted and supported everyone, whatever and whoever they wanted to be. Following the US Administration change, Target quickly canceled their DEI initiatives, a move considered a major betrayal by many of Target’s most faithful customers.
To them, Target instantly became another cold, corporate entity, not their beloved friend. This inspired consumers to organize a VERY effective (and expensive) boycott of the retailer.
What is the cost of a broken brand promise?
For Target, it was estimated losses over $12 Billion, a 30% drop in foot traffic and DEI policy-related lawsuits. Whether Target can ever recover remains to be seen, but consumers have a very long memory, and broken brand promises leave emotional scars.
So, how can you avoid brand promise disasters?
Well, first check out what your brand promise really is, and whether it helps establish an emotional connection with your customers. Too many companies define their promise in a strategy session, then never verify how it shows up in the real world.
Now, audit your customer touchpoints. Check out messaging, packaging, online presence, and the customer experience side by side. If your brand says “premium,” does the packaging deliver? If you promise simplicity, is your purchase experience simple? If you stand for transparency, is your messaging clear? A brand promise should be intuitive long before it is explained.
The second step is to listen for disconnects inside the business. Gaps and inconsistencies often appear internally before they ever show up in market. Leadership says one thing, sales says another, marketing interprets it differently, and the product packaging tells a fourth story altogether. That is how a brand promise becomes vague, inflated, or empty.
A strong audit asks a simple question: can every team explain the promise in the same language, and are they consistently supporting it? If not, the issue is not awareness – it’s alignment.
The last step is testing whether the promise is meaningful to the customer. This is where many brands get in trouble. They confuse internal ambition with external value. “Innovative.” “Trusted.” “Committed to Quality.” These phrases may sound important in a boardroom, but they often mean nothing special to the person spending the money. Conduct a survey, interview customers or do market research. But definitely make certain your promise is actually relevant to your customers.
A strong brand promise is specific and emotionally relevant. It is a commitment. Commitments are supported by evidence, consistency, and execution. The strongest brands I’ve worked with over the years are the ones that live their promise at every touchpoint, in ways customers recognize and trust. If your promise feels thin, the answer is not to rewrite it until it sounds better. The answer is to make it true.
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