Tuesday, February 06, 2024

NEW INC. MAGAZINE COLUMN BY HOWARD TULLMAN

 

The Lesson of SI's Epic Brand Failure

Once one of the most popular magazines in the country, the title's most recent troubles point to the perils of not investing in the future because the past was so great. 

EXPERT OPINION BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS@HOWARDTULLMAN1


While there's some modest prospect that Sports Illustrated will once again be resurrected from the shadows of its most recent fiasco -- most of its journalists were laid off -- it seems much more likely that we've seen the last vestiges of a brand-based venture that lost its heart and raison d'etre long ago. The title was essentially rented out by its owner, Authentic Brands Group, to be published by a company called Arena Group, which got caught grasping desperately at such solutions as AI-faked articles by invented authorsSI reached its peak circulation about 30 years ago and things have been headed downhill ever since. From weekly to monthly to nowhere.

Plenty of print periodicals have passed away and many others are circling the drain for obvious reasons, but the SI saga offers some specific lessons for new business builders that are especially instructive when you consider the power and presence of sports in our lives today. The primary lesson: regardless of how big the wave you're trying to ride, if you don't stay well ahead of the currents and rough waters, it's likely to roll right over you. And no amount of semi-naked, swim-suited models is gonna keep you or your business afloat.

If the cover of Rolling Stone was the golden ring for artists and bands in the rock business, then Sports Illustrated was the biblical equivalent for jocks in every sport.  And, truthfully, SI's powerful brand, slick photography, great writing, and its broad demographic reach was even more substantial than Jann Wenner's rag. And far more valued by mainstream advertisers. But time has a nasty way of turning your attributes into ashes if you don't keep moving forward. There were plenty of signals over the years, but they were largely ignored by SI's founding owner -- Time Inc. and later Time-Warner -- because, when you're successful in the moment and resting on your laurels, you forget quickly, and learn only slowly and painfully.    01:23

Here were the three major things that SI's owners and managers forgot.

(1)   Your Brand is Shorthand for a Promise.

That promise is to consistently deliver to your clients, customers, and the public a defined and readily understood level of performance, products, and services. A brand can mean new, fast, exclusive, or unique. But today, everything is everywhere, and no one wants to wait for anything, so the competitive stakes are radically different. The longer you've been around, the more concrete your brand promise, your commitments, and the crowd's expectations become; but, when the alternatives are just a click away, your fans' loyalty is fluid and flighty. If you drop the ball, the crowd is quick to move on. Try to do things on the cheap or in a half-assed manner, or the same old way, and they're gone. It's become a "what have you done for me lately" world.  Sports Illustrated used to be special, now it's "so what," too little, too late, and nobody cares.

(2)   Value is in the Eyes of the Beholder.

Most honest marketers will tell you that it's the crowd, and not you or your cronies, that keeps score these days and decides what's worthwhile and worth wanting. In an environment of rapid and rabid social media - where everyone's a broadcaster - the crowd controls your brand and your reputation. If you're lucky, you're still hanging on for dear life and trying to outlast the bumpy ride. Brands like SI, which were still stuck in the dark, pre-digital ages, thought that their historical brand equity was enough to allow them to command a premium price for their traditional, sleepy, and largely unchanged offerings. But the real world thinks otherwise. No one wants to pay up for old news. And honestly, no one wants to "Be Like Mike" anymore either. If you don't grow, they take the ball away and you have to go.

(3)   Nostalgia can be a Narcotic and Put You to Sleep.

It's easy and often a lot less painful to look backwards and focus on the glories of the past, but that's dangerous in times of rapid change. Celebrating "the way we never were" or constantly rehashing the old days allows us to embrace and be seduced by the illusion of permanence.  Saturday Night Live is a great example of the risks associated with trying to rebottle the old brews. Justin Timberlake's recent embarrassing appearance was a sad commentary on another show that's lost its relevance, and most of its audience, along with a guy trying to get back in the game whose talents are toast.

Over time, even the best brands and businesses can become static and inflexible as well as very difficult to extend to seize new opportunities. Tradition and "tried and true" rationales are too often convenient excuses for businesses that aren't interested in change or making critical and costly investments to upgrade, expand and improve their products.

Sports Illustrated may only be the latest casualty in a long list of brands and businesses overtaken by change and new technologies, which includes Kodak, Blackberry, AAA, and the entire Swiss watch industry. But it won't be the last. Time is ruthless. The message is clear: if you're not actively moving your business forward, you're losing ground and slipping backwards - whether you know it or not. As long as you act as if you're coming from behind, you have a shot at staying ahead.

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