New Research: Brand Transgressions

Even the most loved brands can make mistakes, from product quality issues to clashing with their customers’ values. 

Foster Professor of Marketing Shailendra (Shelly) Pratap Jain and UW Tacoma Associate Professor of Management Shalini Sarin Jain have distilled years of brand research into their new book, Managing Brand Transgressions: 8 Principles to Transform Your Brand.

The Jains—partners in research and marriage—co-wrote the book to offer managers eight fundamental principles for gracefully recovering from brand missteps. 

We caught up with them at the UW Tacoma campus to explore the essence of Managing Brand Transgressions.

What inspired you to write Managing Brand Transgressions: 8 Principles to Transform Your Brand?

After George Floyd’s death and a renewed focus on diversity nationwide, several brands decided to rebrand (Aunt Jemina, Eskimo Pie, Mrs. Butterworth, Uncle Ben’s, etc.). This curious phenomenon led us to discuss the underlying reasons for these identity changes, and if and how these brands were impacted. These conversations naturally morphed into the idea of writing a case-based book at the intersection of our research interests in brand transgressions and social issues in management.

What is the most important takeaway?

Like human beings, brands make mistakes, i.e., transgress. These transgressions can have devastating outcomes for both the victims and the transgressing brands. Managers need a systematic and comprehensive roadmap to acknowledge and alleviate the victims’ loss and enable their brands to recover and transform. The novel takeaway of our book is to offer such a roadmap captured in the form of 8 Principles.

Why should every organization have a brand transformation toolkit?

Brand transgressions, whether real or perceived, are routine in every part of the world and can catch even the best brands by surprise. In such situations, brands need a response strategy before the transgression becomes a financial, reputational, and legal nightmare.

When practiced methodically, our 8 Principles toolkit can be an effective response to any transgression. More importantly, it can lead to an inside-out brand transformation and help a brand be better prepared when a transgression happens in the future.

Did any brand experiences surprise you during your research?

Yes! We were surprised by Boeing’s opaque response to the 737 Max crashes, Volkswagen’s installation of cheat devices to beat emission standards, Wells Fargo’s lethargy in regrouping after the cross-selling scandal, and Dolce & Gabbana’s cultural insensitivity as it sought to penetrate the Chinese luxury goods market.

On the other hand, Johnson & Johnson’s credo of customer safety first during the Cyanide in Tylenol crisis, Starbucks’ recovery and transformation vis-à-vis the racial profiling incident in Philadelphia, and Taj Hotel Mumbai’s customer care during the terrorist attacks, in our assessment, were equally surprising and are gold standards in transgression response.

A key observation we share throughout our book is that even globally recognized and iconic brands can find themselves in hot water (sometimes of their own making), and not all respond effectively. We believe that a careful study of both ineffective and effective cases of brand transgression response provided in this book illustrates the value of the 8 Principles to every manager and CEO.

How do brand transgressions take root?

Brand transgressions stem from factors both internal and external to a corporation.

Internal factors may include volitional engagement in harmful /deceptive practices (Volkswagen, Dalkon Shield Intra Uterine Contraceptive Device, Fox News), an unintentional product or service failure (CrowdStrike), oops moments that a corporation did not see coming (Nokia phones), or a negative but untrue brand association (Stoli Vodka being perceived as Russian and anti-LGBTQ+ when it is neither).

External factors may include individual/competitor sabotage (Tylenol) or conflict with regulators (Nestle’s Maggi Noodles). Interestingly, whether internally or externally rooted, the mere perception that a brand has transgressed may be sufficient cause for a subsequent crisis.

In every case we studied, we found that leadership values and organizational culture either contributed to the transgression or defined a brand’s response to it—both positive and negative.

Can you share any topline advice for building a solid brand?

Develop your brand firmly based on the first principle, which is Do the Right Thing vis-à-vis your consumers. Build authenticity into the DNA of your brand from the outset, i.e., obsessively fulfill your promises.

Any brand will likely transgress, probably more than once in its life. Be transparent and take accountability when your brand is in such a situation. Address the problem swiftly and without deception or fuss. Use a transgression as an opportunity to transform instead of merely recover. These endeavors, based on the 8 Principles outlined in our book, will organically direct the brand to serve as a role model and minimize the impact of future transgressions. Ignoring these principles in this age of digital democracy and warp-speed information transmission is fraught with risk.

Managing Brand Transgressions: 8 Principles to Transform Your Brand, by Shailendra Pratap Jain and Shalini Sarin Jain, is published by De Gruyter and available at major booksellers worldwide.