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Caveat:<\/span><\/strong> <\/em>This is a loooong post. So, in case you feel like saying ‘ so long<\/em><\/span> ‘, I will understand.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is a SOHB(State Of The Heart Branding) Story<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/a>. Not a eulogy. A wake-up call<\/span>. <\/em>Handle with irreverence.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Though the obituary was not formally written, it was on the cards. And everyone felt it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So, What Does The Crime Scene Look Like?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Most brands aren’t facing a strategy problem. They’re facing a mindset fossilisation problem<\/span><\/strong>. <\/em>It suffers from a thinking issue that has gone well past its sell by date. Where 1990s thinking is expected to solve 2026 problems. I am afraid that is not strategy. That is archaeology, willy nilly, re-visited with a magnifying lens. And some marketing budget for company.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n So, what does the first radical act of future branding? Mindset re-engineering<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong> Burn the mental debris. Or at least Hoover it \u2014 the logic<\/em><\/span>\u00a0behind it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Brands that will survive 2030 won’t just be customer-centric. They’ll be\u00a0customer-obsessed psychics<\/em><\/span>\u00a0\u2014 anticipating desires before the customer has Googled them, let alone articulated them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Don’t find customers for your products. Find products for your customers<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is classic Seth Godin<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/a>. This is the one sentence that should be tattooed on every brand owner’s forearm. Revolutionary? Not exactly. The only disappointment is that most brands are not venturing into that territory.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe need to stop\u00a0interrupting\u00a0what people are interested in &\u00a0be\u00a0what people are interested in.\u201d\u00a0~ Craig Davis<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/a>, Founder of\u00a0Brandkarma<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/strong> and former\u00a0Chief Creative Officer of J. Walter Thompson.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What Universities Should Be Teaching (But Aren\u2019t)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Dear academia, kindly retire nostalgia<\/em><\/span>. Branding students don\u2019t need more case studies<\/em><\/span>. They need:<\/p>\n Teach them to think like anthropologists with entrepreneurial ADHD<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Loyalty Contradiction<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Loyalty in 2030 isn\u2019t repeat purchase. It\u2019s \u201cI\u2019ll forgive your screw-up because you saw my chaos coming.\u201d<\/p>\n Example? Patagonia<\/em><\/span> didn\u2019t sell jackets. They sold permission to feel righteous about spending too much.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But the offbeat one: Liquid Death<\/em><\/span>. They took tap water, put it in a tallboy can, and sold rebellion<\/em><\/span>. No new product. Just a new product for an existing customer\u2019s inner punk. That\u2019s not marketing. That\u2019s ventriloquism.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n True loyalty \u2014 the deep, trust-based connection that brands aspire to \u2014 fell to 29% in 2025, a 5% drop from 2024. This shift reflects how fragile brand devotion has become in an era of endless choice, rising costs, and viral-driven alternatives.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In automotive<\/span><\/em> \u2014 an industry that literally had families passing down brand allegiance like heirlooms \u2014 brand loyalty has dropped below 50% for the first time in modern measurement history, falling to 49% across all nameplates. The entire economics of customer acquisition and retention must be reconsidered.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And the consumers you’re counting on to carry your brand forward into 2030? 43% of U.S. Gen Zers have abandoned a brand they were once loyal to because they “grew bored<\/em><\/span>” with it. Boredom. Not betrayal. Not price.\u00a0Boredom.<\/strong><\/em><\/span>\u00a0Your brand didn’t lose to a competitor. It lost to\u00a0ennui<\/strong><\/span><\/em>(pronounced\u00a0ahn-WEE<\/em><\/span>)<\/span>.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The New Loyalty Runs on Completely Different Fuel<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you think that loyalty is still points and redemption, you are not only way behind the curve, but going downhill as well.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 45% of consumers are more likely to trust a product if it goes viral. 33% trust TikTok and social media trends more than ads or brand websites. 41% have bought products promoted by influencers \u2014 almost double the overall average. Welcome to\u00a0Trend Loyalty<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>\u2014 an emotionally charged, fast-moving allegiance driven by viral moments rather than long-term relationships.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But here’s the double edged sword- where it gets genuinely fascinating and genuinely terrifying for traditional brand thinking: 40% of teens consider themselves loyal to a brand they have never purchased from. 54% say loyalty means telling friends about a brand. 40% say it means simply loving a brand, with no intent to buy<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Loyalty has decoupled from purchase<\/span>. <\/em><\/strong>Your most powerful brand advocates may never spend a rupee with you. And your loyalty programme? It’s measuring the wrong thing entirely.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n