Wanton brand destruction shenanigans continue
This Musk dude will go down in biz-school brand management case study history for what not to do.
When he bought the little blue bird, the word "tweet" was well on its way to the nirvana occupied by the likes of "hoover", "kleenex", "fridge" and "styrofoam" -- a brand so transcendently well-known it becomes part of common language. AND, "twitter" was still a defensible brand. That combination has enduring value as a trademark.
But, no, Musk bought all that and tried to flush it down the toilet. This counterattack sounds like he did some panic-induced screaming at some trademark lawyers. I hope they're billing at least a few thousand an hour for tolerating his abuse.
This guy hates branding. X? WTF? I think it's because the only entity that has more power in the modern world than oligarchs is the customers of household brands. People can be effective boycotting Target or Nestle or Jim Beam or whatever if they don't like their policies. It's a weakness at the heart of the strength of big companies. But it isn't a weakness when companies serve their customers.
