I just ran across a slide show on Boston.com called Lucas Conley’s 10 most overrated brands. Conley, who just wrote a book called OBD (Obsessive Brand Disorder), points to these 10 “tired” brands:

  • Southwest Airlines (The airline’s issue with safety inspections and its subsequent reaction has tarnished its fun-loving image).
  • The Gap (After trying a myriad of media tricks to get attention and 15 quarters of declining sales drops, the retailer has suspended TV ads).
  • The Los Angeles Lakers (Unlike the “Showtime” brand of the past, the Lakers couldn’t even keep the attention of their own fans)
  • Oprah (“Oprah’s Big Give” TV show was an instant flop and one of the many recent stumbles for the overexposed media queen).
  • MTV (No more full-length videos and the station’s programming now amounts to reductive reality crossovers and tasteless dating shows).
  • Dunkin’ Donuts (The new owners pushed DD coffee into stores and supermarkets while touting Rachel Ray and dismantling of the firm’s original neon sign).
  • Victoria’s Secret (Since 2004, when the company hired unsexy folk legend Bob Dylan to appear in ads, Victoria’s Secret has been groping in the dark)
  • Apple (In an age when no-name companies make phones of equal quality at a fraction of the price of an iPhone, how long can Apple keep sales and its cool factor up?)
  • Trump (Trump has become a trinket tycoon, feverishly trading in on his name to peddle a bazaar’s worth of crap… like Trump water and Trump cologne).
  • The Everybrand (I didn’t quite get what he was saying about this one)

My take: I agree with many, but not all, of the brands on the list…

I agree with these being on the list:

  • Trump (enough of him already), Oprah (she’s overplayed, but give her snaps for doing some good things for society), Victoria’s Secret (it can’t quite get sexy right), Los Angelas Lakers (go Celtics!), The Gap (it’s down now, but I’m hopeful for a comeback), and MTV (I can’t take any more reality).

I disagree with these being on the list:

  • Apple (it’s coolness still has some staying power); Southwest Airlines (it can recover from the recent snafu) and Dunkin’ Donuts (okay, I just like Rachel Ray).

The bottom line: Your brand is a terrible thing to waste.

This blog post was originally published by Temkin Group prior to its acquisition by Qualtrics in October 2018.