By Tunji Faleye

The recent Arsenal’s overwhelming whitewash of Manchester City in their Premier League encounter was applauded by Arsenal fans and football pundits the world over. The match was a display of football artistry and a high-level performance by the Gunners. However, their 2-0 loss to Newcastle in their Carabao Cup match has shown that triumph at times can lead to complacency, overconfidence, and a total decline in performance. This phenomenon is particularly evident in marketing teams and other brand builders where an array of successes can lead to complacency, and quickly metamorphosed into strategic failures and underperformances.

When marketing teams revel in their expertise and successes, this often creates an illusion that future success is ascertained, reducing their thirst for planning, execution, and assessment of imminent risk.

Set up of Newcastle that resulted in Arsenal defeat in Carabao Cup

Overconfidence 

After their win against Manchester City, Arsenal may have assumed that their attacking formula was infallible. This mindset possibly led to a lack of adaptation against Newcastle, who exploited Arsenal’s defensive weaknesses and countered their style effectively.

Marketing teams often fall into a similar trap. After a successful campaign, they may assume that the same strategy will work again, leading to a lack of innovation. They might overlook market changes, consumer behaviour shifts, or competitor responses, ultimately resulting in underwhelming performance.

Its a goaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal

Reduced focus and fatigue 

Another factor that contributed to Arsenal’s defeat was the physical and mental fatigue from their previous high-stakes match. Beating Manchester City required maximum effort, leaving them drained for the next challenge.

Marketing teams experience a similar effect after a big success. The intense effort required to achieve a major win can lead to burnout. Team members may struggle to maintain the same level of creativity, enthusiasm, and energy in subsequent campaigns. Without a well-structured recovery and re-strategizing plan, this can negatively impact performance.

Underestimating competitor's response 

Newcastle entered the game against Arsenal with a strategic plan, having observed Arsenal’s tactics against Manchester City. They capitalized on Arsenal’s vulnerabilities, proving that underestimating an opponent can be costly.

In marketing, competitors are always watching. After a brand achieves a major success, rival companies often analyze what worked and strategize countermeasures. If the marketing team fails to anticipate and counteract these responses, their next campaign may falter, allowing competitors to regain market share.

Conclusion

When success is considered to be a strong motivation in anything we do, it is also a distraction to achieve more. Marketers and brand builders need to constantly appraise strategies and perfect execution of any campaign. Success should be a motivation to do more by putting on thinking cap, and think within and outside the box to stay on top of the game and achieve more for brands.

Maintaining a culture of adaptability, improvement, and strategic foresight should be the watchword of marketing professionals and brand builders for a sustaining long-term success.

Kindly like, share and leave your comments.