- Iconic brands were launched during the Great Depression in the US
- There us a place for innovation, invention and leadership in a downturn
- Second or third-ranked brands can challenge the brand leader and achieve rapid growth
- The eight credos of a challenger brand
As devastating an effect as it had on the world's economy, many a fortune was made in the Great Depression of the 1920s and 30s. As well as immense poverty and debt, these decades also saw the launch of iconic global brands such as Revlon, Motorola and, ironically, Fortune magazine, which carried a cover price of $1. The leaders behind the brands were able to identify a product that met a customer's need and which hitherto wasn't being addressed. Motorola founder Paul V Galvin, for instance, picked up that technicians were fitting home radios into cars and so engaged a team of engineers to build one of the first commercially successful car radios in the world and in doing so created a whole new market.
There's no shortage of debate about what kind of leadership is required to steer organisations through the recession but what the above brands show is that there is equally a place for innovation and invention in a downturn. And as uncertain and scary as the current economic backdrop is, this is also an exciting time for the business leaders who dare to do something different that will not only enable them to survive but flourish while others sadly fall by the wayside.
