My feeling is that brands can move on once the founders have left. But it’s not by chance; it’s deliberate. Performance and total commitment paves the way.

The most successful brands are built to be sustainable. That’s a big part of the value of branding in the first place. You build a brand not for the short-term rewards. You build a brand for results over the long-term.

To be sustainable, the brand must stay true to its essence, to the values and ideals it stands for. Jordan doesn’t play basketball anymore, but the Jordan Nike brand is as strong as ever. Jordan still stands for Jordan… and Nike’s brought other stars on board to complement the branding effort.

This is not exactly the same thing as brand personification, but what about all of the corporations out there who have put their CEO front and center and larger than life. In some cases, they almost become synonymous with the brand. Look at GE and Jack Welch. His successor Jeff Immelt may not have gained the same level of popularity, but the GE brand has fared well since Welch’s departure.

This is a great topic. I’ll be digging into this one further.