Founders as the Logo of their own Brands? | Mark Ritson

Branding guru Mark Ritson says that founders are fundamental to a brand’s fortune because they have the brand in their bones.

• 'When a founder runs their own brand it can confer astonishing strategic advantages.' 

• 'Time and again, they instinctively and instantly make the right decision.'

• 'The most powerful form of marketing communication occurs when a founder talks about their business. Suddenly consumers listen. Even more amazing, they believe.'

• 'Such is their power, that when the founder finally departs, dies or retires many brands struggle to retain their trajectory. A fact reflected in the 6% drop in Apple’s share price since the news of Steve Jobs’ departure was announced.' 

Steve Jobs

• 'There are many cases where a founder returns to their failing brand and resurrects it. Steve Jobs did it against all the odds in 1997 and Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel did it in 1963 and at the age of 70.' 

Coco Chanel

On a not so side note, here is a break down of Apple’s iPhone profit margin, compiled by Mark Ritson and an example of top brands using extreme methods to make profits.

In what ways do you think this will change now that Steve Jobs is gone?

Google also announced a pretty huge management changeover, in this case from non-founder Eric Schmidt to co-founder Larry Page. Read more about this in Ritson’s article here. 

Eric Schmidt

Larry Page

Ritson’s Brand Management program as part of the MBS Executive Series is filling up. Don’t miss out on the chance to learn from one of the top associate professors in marketing, an award winning columnist, and a consultant to some of the world’s biggest brands. 

Mark Ritson

For more on his program, click here or contact Marianne Carollo at the Melbourne Business School +61 3 9349 8292 or m.carollo@mbs.edu 

“It’s not you it’s me.” Ever wondered how to better manage your sponsorship relationship? | Richard Speed

A message from Richard Speed, 

"When the football clubs of Australia announce their new sponsorships for the year, the sponsoring firms explain how proud they are of the association and how central the relationship is to their marketing strategy. I am happy to guarantee, here and now, that by the end of the season, bad behaviour by players, officials or a club as whole will lead to some of those sponsors cutting their ties as fast as possible, leaving their marketing strategy in tatters.

Sponsorships are one of the situations in marketing when you rest the success of your strategy on something outside the firm and outside your direct control. If you manage these relationships like your traditional resources, your risk of failure goes through the roof.


Have you had any experiences like this? Please share them below.

And to learn how to better manage these risks, join me for Hired, borrowed or stolen; Making your marketing strategy work with someone else’s resources, starting March 2nd."

Richard Speed

Richard’s research focuses on creating effective marketing strategy and valuable brands, such as sponsorship and its use in marketing strategy.

Gucci, Chanel and Bulgari – oh my! Follow the yellow brick Tweet! | Mark Ritson

Mark Ritson highlights how luxury brands including Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Bulgari have been slow to embrace e-commerce, but are now starting to take the idea seriously. 


Burberry, which has 2 million fans on Facebook, now has an iPad app allowing customers to order products well ahead of their local launch, while Bulgari uses YouTube and Twitter. 


Ritson says luxury brands like to break rules in terms of fashion, but it has taken time for them innovate in their business strategies. 


Source: AFR, Nov 2010

Interestingly, Ritson also suggests that Social Media is for People, not Brands. He points out that Peter Andre has more followers on Twitter than the top 20 British brands combined.


What do you think? How has social media helped with your own branding experience? 


For more on Mark Ritson's experience with brands and marketing, download his podcast here.


Follow his yellow brick Tweets, for regular shots of branding knowledge.


Finally, if all this doesn't make you want to see the man in action, have a look at what you can learn from his Executive Series session, Brand Management.

Mark Ritson