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customers, and the Apple brand right along with it.” The Apple brand is probably strong
enough to survive this, but it will be some time before anyone knows whether this episode
will lead to decline or robust recovery.
Some observers have noted that Apple's Map app is only one failure among a myriad
of success stories. They say the company shouldn't be judged on this singular event. They
have a point. When a huge company with hundreds of millions of loyal customers, has a
product that fails, the exception can be seen as proof of the company's overall value. But
what happens when a small, strong brand tries to extend its brand and fails?
That's what happened when famed small arms manufacturer, Smith & Wesson, decided
to market mountain bikes. Research revealed that Smith & Wesson's customers liked their
guns so much that they would look favorably on other Smith &Wesson products. The com-
pany already made bicycles equipped for law enforcement, so the mountain bikes seemed
like a reasonably natural outgrowth for a company that sold a large share of its firearms to
police departments. The specialty bikes, which featured compartments for your piece and
plenty of ammo, had developed a loyal constituency among police. Why not strip it down
to a mountain bike, and watch the eager buyers line up?
That was the theory, but the buyers never showed up. Smith & Wesson failed to take
one thing into account: though its gun buyers might like the idea of other Smith &Wesson
products, few of these loyal consumers were bicyclists. The company forgot one key aspect
of branding: when extending a brand to a new product, the initial sales will be to your core
audience. If they have no use for the product, they won't buy it, and if your brand's core
audience won't buy it, it's most likely that no one will.
The most successful brands start as an ongoing dialogue with people. With digital
brands this dialogue is, ideally, a compelling mix of seamlessly connected products, ser-
vices, experiences, spaces, and digital interactions. If all goes well, recognition of the brand
fosters curiosity, love and loyalty. Digital designers shape the brand characteristics to fa-
cilitate that dialogue. Typically we employ various touch points to create multifaceted ex-
periences that emotionally connect people to brands. When we succeed, those connections
create harmony and meaning in the minds of users. This reinforces, and even strengthens
the brand's impact on public perceptions.
Entrepreneur/Designer Dave Morin is well on the road to creating a successful new
brand with his social network, Path. Morin learned a lot as an early member of Mark Zuck-
erberg's Facebook team. As Morin helped build the widely inclusive Facebook experien-
ce, he began to think of a different kind of network, one that emphasized the exclusive,
and more intimate side of human behavior, like that which occurs in smaller communities
