The Sum Of Its Parts

Brands can have weaknesses yet still succeed.
A bad company name can be saved with great marketing that speaks the customers language.
A terrible logo can be made to look better with the elements supporting it.
A website with poor functionality can be made bearable with the information it conveys.

And brands can have strengths yet still fail.
A good company name can fail to attract customers with terrible marketing.
A great logo will look worse when the elements surrounding it don’t do their job.
A website with great functionality won’t convert if it’s conveying the wrong information.

When brands fail it’s easy to point to the one thing that caused it.
Of course, they shouldn’t have chosen that name.
Of course, they shouldn’t have used that logo.
Of course…

What makes or breaks a brand isn’t any one element. Rather, it’s how well all elements can come together to successfully tell a single story.

That might seem obvious, but if the story a brand tells doesn’t connect with the audience, it doesn’t matter how good each individual element of that brand is. The brand will fail.

That’s why brands with terrible names—ones that end in ly, for example—can still succeed. Or companies with awful logos—KPMG—can go on to become industry leaders. They’re able to connect with their audience in a way they care about.