You have forgotten who you are and so have forgotten me. Look inside yourself, Simba. You are more than what you have become.
– Mufasa the Lion King

Brands are about business performance promises. They differentiate our promise in the marketplace. Strong established brands are about promises kept. As you look to expand upon and extend your brand, can you pursue growth by migrating, extending and expanding your brand and still maintain its integrity? At the heart of successful companies that have migrated their brands over time, there has been a crystal clear understanding of what their customer promise is, and how to keep it at the core of new business directions; be they acquisitions, adoptions of new technology, or new product lines.

Let’s go again.

A few years back, I went to see the Lion King 3D. I was immediately captured by the emotionally engaging musical score (a hallmark of Disney movies), the beautiful colors, and then finally, the memorable and well-told story. It’s just a great story, folks, start to finish. And that is what you expect from a Disney animated movie. The 3D effects were a nice embellishment to something that was already worth seeing again and again. Disney movies are treasures that you keep on your shelf to pull down and watch on a rainy day. Everybody’s got a “remember the part where…” spot in a Disney movie.

Will 3D be the new tech steroid that re-introduces Disney to millions of new viewers? Probably not. But it will trigger millions of loyal fans to remember what they loved, becoming active champions to expand Disney’s fan base to their own kids, friends and families – thus growing the brand.

 First, know who you are to your most loyal fans.

Your customers have long memories, and if they have engaged with your brand in the past, then your brand has over time become a collaborative effort. They know who you are, perhaps better than you do. They communicate what they know to others. If you understand what your brand really is, you can build upon it for a stronger future than you may have expected. Before you do anything else, dig in. Do the homework, talk to your customers and understand what they perceive your brand’s promise to be. If you’ve been in business a while, then your brand has a life. So as Rafiki says,

You can either run from it, or… learn from it.