... and brands could learn from it. I think it was Barry McGuigan that coined the word whilst commentating upon a 'discombobulated' Frank Bruno (not a pretty sight), but now I feel it applies to one of the most successful brands of the last few years, New Labour. Its leader may or may not be discombobulated - certainly he isn't if press reports are anything to go by (since you can safely assume the opposite) - but the brand most definitely is. I find it strange that the people at the top of organisations either never paid attention in marketing class at business school, or never pay attention now to the professional marketers they employ. Otherwise you think they would know about discombobulation, and act accordingly. ............................................................................................................................................................... The marketing equivalent, of course, and the thing I'm obtusely alluding to, is the product life cycle. Good old BCG. Like the Ansoff matrix, (not-) Rosser Reeves' USP, Trout & Ries' Positioning, and even - ahem - NEWAIDA, the PLC is as near a law of marketing as it gets. One advantage of being an industry old-stager (very late Baby Boom, I hasten to add), is that you actually have time to see these theories behave in lawlike fashion. Sure as eggs are eggs, products and brands really do come and go. And, to a large extent, they have a life of their own in this regard. The main influence isn't the marketer, but how factors change in the competitive environment. The cleverest thing a marketer can do is to recognise the true stage in the cycle, and the dumbest thing is to try to work against it. ............................................................................................................................................................... At risk of sounding like Alf Garnett, it's been bleeding obvious for a very long time that New Labour have had it - for the time being. Rather than trying to patch holes in the sinking ship - holes that appear at a daily faster rate - they should go down gracefully. Don't waste any effort or resources on the inevitable. (Obviously spend as much as possible and enact as many difficult-to-remove socialist bills in the time remaining.) Abandon ship and paddle to the nearest safe-looking island. Re-group. Build a hut. Suss out the competition. Lay a few traps. Let them fall into them. Bray loudly. Let the jackals of the press get their teeth into fresh flesh. Find a new brand spokesman (possibly even a new brand). Nurture the star. Its time will come. ............................................................................................................................................................... Lots of products and brands I can think of don't do this either, which is even more perplexing.