Ben McConnell gave me my first chuckle of the morning with his story about Roy Disney’s comments. It’s the first time I’ve heard the term “brand crack.”
With slavish, internal devotion to “the brand” like an infallible corporate deity, companies often cast aside the true gods: customers. Rather than hiring unbelievably helpful customer-focused employees, or improving products or services, or lowering prices, brand crack is fired up and inhaled by mass media campaigns devoted to “brand building.” With brand crack now coursing now through the bloodstream, the marketing chief dedicates most energies toward feeding the addiction: company ego.