Why strong brand awareness won’t help Uber and WeWork

Quotes

• “I started in brand management, in a company called Unilever. After that, I moved to Procter & Gamble where I have worked on the advertising side of things.” - Allen “A lot of marketers do a lot of things and they do it average. Those days are over. You’re better off doing three things phenomenally well.” - Allen “I help brands figure out if they have a simple story, a way to tell that story and a way to deliver it to the marketplace.” - Allen “If the customer touches your product and it doesn’t wow them then it doesn’t matter how you told that story.” - Allen “Awareness is more difficult today compared to ten years ago when there were only three channels.” - Allen “Uber and WeWork had the benefit of quickly going through awareness of relevant differentiation.” - Allen “Long-term differentiation in many commodity categories is based on who the company is, what their purpose is and what they believe in.” - Allen “If you promise more but deliver less, that’s not a good way to build loyalty.” - Allen “Uber’s challenge is more manageable from a brand point of view because they had a product that was working. What was not working was what they stood for.” - Allen “If it only works today it’s not a brand. It’s a promotional idea.” - Allen