Is Your Brand Totaled?
Brand equity is usually defined as the amount of value that your brand has. In other words, it represents the savings in communication expenses that are achieved by the pre-communication of information about your company. Your brand is the character of your company—not the identity. Your company's identity is just the visual representation of the brand.
The concept of brand equity usually finds its relevance when contemplating re-branding. Because brand equity is built up over time, you don't want to squander the value of your brand during the re-branding process. When you are trying to preserve your brand equity, all new work should fit with the current brand and build on it.
When Your Brand Equity Isn't Worth Saving
Is there a situation where this scenario doesn't make sense? If the price of trying to "work with" a brand exceeds the brand equity, then we say that your brand is totaled. Just like a car that is not worth fixing, some brands are not worth saving. This can happen in two situations.
1. Medium-value Brand, With Much Work
The most common occurs when there is a lot of work relating to a medium-value brand. Because of the volume of work, it quickly exceeds the value of the brand. Only a very strong brand can withstand the expense of a large amount of work.
2. Low-value Brand
Another situation is when the value of the brand is almost worthless already. Even small projects quickly become expensive. And, many times, much of the scope is only for the purpose of preserving the illusion of brand equity.