Brand Failures

People failures 197
had lost the support of the public and Hear’Say had come to a natural end.’
The band members also told the media that they were tired of getting abuse
from the public, which made their lives ‘hell’. Suzanne Shaw told The Sun
newspaper that their pop brand fell victim to the fickle nature of fashion. ‘It’s
like a pair of trainers: one minute they’re in and the next minute they’re out,’
she said.
So while the Popstars phenomenon continued to be a success, spawning shows
such as Pop Idol and Popstars: The Rivals in the UK and American Idol in the
US, the pop brand it created was on a downward slope almost from its
conception.
Lessons from Hear’Say
Hype can turn against you. At the start of 2001 Hear’Say was the most
hyped band never to have released a single. However, the weight of the
media interest soon turned against them to crush the brand.
Have something to unify your brand. The Spice Girls weathered Geri
Halliwell’s departure (at least in the short term) by rallying behind the
‘Girl Power’ banner, but as the Guardian reported ‘poor Hear’Say, only in
it for the fame, didn’t have so much as a slogan to stand on.’