A brand is much more than the person who runs it.
Amancio Ortega and Zara, Richard Branson and Virgin, Elon Musk and Tesla… There are many examples of brands in which the image of the CEO is mixed with that of the brand itself. A few days ago we learned that Jeff Bezos decided to step aside and no longer continue as CEO of Amazon, just when the company reached its peak turnover.
A move that may be due to a desire to evolve the brand, or perhaps it is just an attempt to disassociate the Bezos brand from the Amazon brand. Because there is no doubt how fragile it is for a brand to depend on the image of a single person, no matter how closely linked that person is to the company (remember how Apple’s shares fell when Steve Jobs fell ill).
Of course, the existence of a self-made visionary genius creates a myth around the company that humanises it, makes its values more credible, and generates an aspirational halo that everyone wants to be part of. But thinking in the long term, to what extent is attaching oneself to a character (however magnetic he or she may be) a recommendable strategy for a brand? And if this strategy is built from the bottom up – from the employees – and not from the leader?
Because, without getting into polemics, will the Barça brand still be worth the same when Messi is no longer there?