Digital Darwinism and the power of branding

Brands come in all shapes, sizes and levels of success. Altimeter Group digital analyst and author Brian Solis writes that, in order to survive, brands must battle succumbing to “digital Darwinism.”

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Coca-Cola

Cans of Coca-Cola Classic are displayed in Oct. 2005. The company's iconic scripting has given it some of the most powerful brand-recognition in the world.

RAMIN TALAIE / BLOOMBERG NEWS

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola Co. 7.5-ounce cans in Oct. 2011. Even as the brand has undergone some changes, many of its core elements have remained the same, allowing it to fight back, as author and Altimeter Group principal analyst Brian Solis, writes, "Digital Darwinsim."

Scott Eells / BLOOMBERG

Apple

Steve Jobs, Apple's former chief executive and board chairman, who died in October, told employees during a 1997 company meeting, "This is a very noisy world. So, we have to be very clear what we want them to know about us."

MARK CONSTANTINI

Apple

Customers browse inside an Apple Store in May 2011 in New York City, 10 years after the opening of the first Apple Store. The company's brand, according to the Millwar Brown Optimor BrandZ survey, is the most valuable in the world.

Daniel Barry / GETTY IMAGES

Nokia

Nokia Managing Director Stephen Elop attends a press conference at the headquarters of the mobile phone company in Keilaniemi, Finland, in April 2011. The company's brand is listed by 24/7 Wall St. as one of the brands that will disappear in 2012.

LEHTIKUVA / REUTERS

Nokia

Visitors display Nokia Lumia 800 smartphones at the Nokia World event in London on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011.

Simon Dawson / BLOOMBERG

Netflix

The exterior of Netflix headquarters is seen in Los Gatos, Calif. The company has struggled with branding, briefly separating its movies-by-mail service from its main brand. The move was widely panned.

Paul Sakuma / AP

Netflix

Reed Hastings, chief executive and founder of Netflix, talks with the international press during the launch of Netflix in Colombia on Sept. 9, 2011, in Bogota, Colombia. According to Solis, the company must now "focus on rebuilding its brand to earn and re-earn trust before it can take another aggressive move into the future."

Getty Images / GETTY IMAGES FOR NETFLIX

Saab

A Saab sign outside of the Saab factory in Trollhaettan, north of Gothenburg in Sweden. The brand is among those listed by 24/7 Wall Street as slated to disappear in 2012.

JONATHAN NACKSTRAND / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Saab

A Saab 9-3 vehicle stands on display in the showroom of a Saab Automobile dealership in Trollhaettan, Sweden, on Oct. 31, 2011. The brand was deemed "no longer financially viable," by the publication 24/7 Wall Street.

Erik Abel / BLOOMBERG

Sony Pictures

Actress Rooney Mara in the Sony Pictures film "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." Sony Pictures was listed as one of the "ten brands that will disappear in 2012," by the publication 24/7 Wall Street.

Sony Pictures Releasing

American Apparel

Dov Charney, chairman and chief executive officer of American Apparel, speaks during an interview outside a company retail store in New York on July 29, 2010. The American Apparel brand has been under siege due to declining sales, and suits filed against Charney by former employees alleging sexual harrassment have not helped matters.

Keith Bedford / BLOOMBERG NEWS

American Apparel

Volunteers from the Occupy Wall Street protests organize donated clothing at the storage and distribution center on Broadway on Oct. 23, 2011, in New York. Major clothing labels such as American Apparel are regular contributors. The American Apparel brand, however, has been listed among the "ten brands that will disappear in 2012" by the publication 24/7 Wall St.

John Minchillo / AP

Sears

A shopper walks into Sears at Macomb Mall in Roseville, Mich. on March 2, 2010. Sears was listed by 24/7 Wall Street as one of "ten brands that will disappear in 2012." The parent company created from the merger of Sears and Kmart brands has struggled, with the Sears portion of the company doing worse than Kmart, leading some to believe the two will be fully consolidated under the Kmart banner.

Paul Sancya / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Kellogg's Corn Pops

Boxes of Kellogg's Froot Loops, Corn Pops, Apple Jacks, and Honey Smacks sit on the shelf of a Mt. Lebanon, Pa., grocery store on June 25, 2010. Kellogg's Corn Pops was listed among the "ten brands that will disappear in 2012," due to both increasing health concerns around children's foods and the rising price of corn.

Gene J. Puskar / AP

MySpace

Bass guitarist Cameron Schnittger, left, and Rohit Kulkarni, right, with the pop rock band Four O'clock Heroes, practice as the band's MySpace Web site page is shown in foreground in San Jose, Calif., on June 29, 2011. News Corp. has since sold MySpace.

Paul Sakuma / AP

Google

Hugo Barra, product management director at Google, talks about the Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system during a news conference at company headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. on Feb. 2, 2011. Google's brand value tied with that of IBM at third place in the Millward Brown Optimor BrandZ survey.

Tony Avelar / BLOOMBERG

Google

Google signage is displayed at at the company's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.

Tony Avelar / BLOOMBERG

Nike

Boxer Manny Pacquiao appears onstage and points to his Nike shoes during the official weigh-in for his bout against Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand Garden Arena Nov. 11, 2011 in Las Vegas. Nike's iconic swoosh is among the most recognizable brand symbols in the world.

Ethan Miller / GETTY IMAGES

Nike

A guard stands in front of the construction drapes of a Nike store in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, on Oct. 24, 2011.

Qilai Shen / BLOOMBERG

Oscar Mayer

The jingle for Oscar Mayer hot dogs from the early 1970s is among the most recognizable jingles in advertising history.

David Paul Morris / BLOOMBERG

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