Six Rules of Brand Revitalization: Learn the Most Common Branding Mistakes and How to Avoid Them, Second Edition

8. Tendency 8: The Backtracking to Basics

Sometimes the desire to keep-on-keeping-on with the same old ideas is called “getting back to basics.” Of course, there will be core elements of a brand that must be upheld. But these elements must always be kept current and relevant. This means these elements are renewed, refreshed, and refined for contemporary importance. Mattel is struggling with renewing Barbie. The doll has a great heritage, but how can she be relevant in today’s world without returning her to the basics that made her the woman she used to be? (Recently, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, September 20, 2015, ran an article about the artificial intelligence applied to Barbie: she now has a brain.)

Four years after Jim Skinner’s ascension ...