#brand-risk

#brand-risk

After months of protests, sponsor reshuffling, and uncomfortable headlines, Factor Bikes - the team's equipment partner since 2020 - has reportedly told management it will not continue past the end of 2025. That vibes with the ultimatum they gave IPT this summer. And that single decision has set off a chain reaction that now involves a rebrand, political optics, and a rumored tug-of-war between bike suppliers.

Different sectors, same impulse. Unify the brand, centralize the risk. The reasons aren't complicated. Communications is no longer reactive. Brand building is no longer just about splashy creativity. Both functions now operate in a politicized environment where a press release, tweet or ad can move markets or spark backlash. Add in a world where the lines between brand and performance are more blurred than ever, and alignment between the two isn't optional. It's operational.

Why it matters: It's a cliché, but it's still true: People trust people. And employees who perform these jobs day in and day out have the real stories, expertise and insight to make content stand out. Even if your organization isn't quite ready to encourage employees to post on their personal accounts about work, it's still worthwhile to identify a group of workers with winning personalities, interesting jobs and some camera skills to take footage for you to then process and post on your brand pages.

Pepsi's 2017 commercial starring Kendall Jenner attempted to link soda with unity and protest movements. The ad showed Jenner leaving a photo shoot to join a demonstration, ultimately handing a Pepsi to a police officer in a moment of supposed reconciliation. Critics immediately accused the brand of trivializing Black Lives Matter and real social justice movements, appropriating protest imagery for profit.

If you've never heard the term, ragebait marketing is simple: a brand does something polarizing or controversial - sometimes accidentally but often intentionally - with the goal of going viral by wreaking havoc in the comments and inspiring think pieces and millions of dollars in free publicity. And the truth is, it works - at least on the surface, if you measure the success of a campaign in views.