Wednesday Morning Rant [Joe Mannix]

Over the past couple of years, there has been a quiet revolt against products sloughed onto the market by woke corporations. Recently - as in the past several months - this has gotten much louder. Few if any companies used to lose when they bet on woke. Now, the losses are starting to pile up and the maps of the minefield through which these companies are treading are being shown as inaccurate.

From the vanguards of the backlash like Gillette to the more recently punished players like Tranheuser-Busch and Disney and Target, this has been building for years. Brand wokism is an increasingly dangerous gamble. All of those brands have seen serious declines in brand value since their grand entry into public wokism. Disney (and Hollywood more generally) has been a slower burn but the results can no longer be denied.

As we work our way through this cultural inflection point, the damage is likely to spread. The amount of corporate value being destroyed may continue to grow, and that leads to a challenge for Corporate America: how do they get out of this? Here are a few things that might help the new boss - and there needs to be a new boss - take some baby steps toward getting back to basics:

Have reasonable expectations for recovery. You're not going to achieve your prior heights, at least not any time soon. The company has fractured its markets and created a subset of people who actively hate it. That subset will not come back to you. You can shore up the middle and recover some of those who have left, but you won't get them all. Come to terms with that.

Don't bother apologizing. This one is counter to most of the coverage out there, but I don't think apologies matter. Apologies will be ignored and there is nothing but downside. Do so if you wish, but don't expect it to work. Apologies work only if there is credibility. You have none. Nobody will believe it. Action, not words, are required.

Purge the ranks. On the topic of action, you need to take some and it needs to start at the top. There is a culture problem within the business, or it would never have gotten this far. At minimum, the CEO, the COO, the CMO and the CFO all need to go, along with the entire HR department and most of the marketing department. The fish rots from the head.

Stay out of politics. The current crop of executives can't do this. After the purge, just stop. No public campaigns, no massive donations to political causes. Within a year or two, people will notice. If you get lucky, a propaganda outlet might run a hit piece on you.

Respect your customers. Remember that "consumers" are an economic concept, not a business concept. You have customers, and they demand your respect. Don't badmouth your customers. Don't treat them like crap or take them for granted. Don't blame them for your failures or because they don't buy a lousy product.

Put out a decent product. Do so for a long time. "Company X has a decent product and hasn't gone out of its way to piss me off" is the customer attitude you want. That attitude might as well be a printing press for cash. Pandering to a loud crowd of activists and putting out a crappy product is nothing but a furnace for crash.

Or just grab a Bud Light and watch it burn. Ball's in your court.

Disclosures:
Free advice is worth what you pay for it
Joe Mannix is not directly invested in any of these firms
Joe Mannix does not have an MBA
Joe Mannix is not a cop
Joe Mannix did not attend an Ivy League university

posted by Open Blogger at 11:00 AM

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