Your Brand Isn’t Entirely in Your Control, So Do What You Can to Make it Better

By Ido Lechner, Co-founder and Head of Strategy @ Magic Media

“Is that diner actually good though?”

Sarina had been there before, but she wanted no part of it despite not actually remembering what the quality of the food was actually like.

You see, many years back a group of us were sitting in that exact diner, when a friend-of-a-friend, David, started making some misogynistic comments. I’ll spare you the details, but I’ll tell you this much— the tension didn’t foster the kind of atmosphere any of us would have wanted on a casual Thursday night.

Fast-forward five or six years and she still hasn’t been back to Midnight Express, even though the establishment itself didn’t really do anything wrong.

“Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room”

~Jeff Bezos

It’s so fascinating how the mind works by association to construct the perception of a brand. In this case, Sarina thinks of D!ckhead David every time she walks past that diner, and that’s enough to forego eating there again even though she lives so close to it.

I’d like to take this moment to clarify of course that Sarina is one of the most emotionally intelligent people I know, and yet she was so put off by what happened that night that Midnight Express still lost a potential repeat customer.

So this all begs the question: what could Midnight Express have done differently?

Directly, nothing. They weren’t aware this was happening at all, we weren’t screaming or making a scene. Plus, even if they did know, Sarina had it under control, she’s extremely capable of standing up for herself, and she did.

Indirectly, the establishment can try to foster a warmer environment for its customers. The fact that we were seated behind a wall where the waiters couldn’t see us and didn’t check up on us created a disconnect between us and the business. The waiters should get in the habit of asking how everything is, and the food should be so banging that Sarina would remember the flavor of the food rather than the flavor of misogyny.

I wonder, if the food and service were amazing, would Sarina come back to eat there despite the nuisance? Maybe.

Ultimately, while brands and individuals alike have to face the reality that there are some things outside of our control, there’s always room for improvement. Sarina may choose to never eat there again, and whether that’s a reflection on her values, the diner’s, or somewhere in the middle, I don’t know.

What I do know though is this:

“A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another”

~Seth Godin

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