Kim Kardashian West eventually caved to the social media backlash that arose from her decision to brand her new line of shapewear Kimono, opting for the less culturally inappropriate Skims instead. But that doesn’t mean all brands now need to ensure their naming decisions pass muster with customers.
Certainly we have entered an era in which it’s critically important to use social media for listening and learning from customers. And if your brand is not well-known or well-developed, conversations on social networks can be a valuable source of insight on how your ideas and messages are interpreted and how well they resonate with your target audience. But harsh criticism doesn’t necessarily require you to change your course—especially when it involves a last-minute, costly scramble as it did for Kardashian West, whose company had to relabel two million garments, just weeks before the scheduled brand launch.
The predicament Kardashian West found herself in after she announced her brand’s offending name was unique—and all her own doing. By examining her missteps, we can glean valuable lessons for selecting names that brands can, and should, stick with.
Ripe for backlash
Kardashian West built her brand—and her stardom in general—by baring herself (literally and figuratively) to her fans on social media and provoking viral conversations about herself through over-sharing. In doing so, she made herself vulnerable to the power of social-media backlash. She excused her problem in an interview with WSJ Magazine as the consequence of being held to “a different standard” because there are “more eyes on me and my brand.” But her situation isn’t distinguished so much by the amount of scrutiny as it is by the self-inflicted nature of it.
The lesson for other brands is to not mistake social-media participation with brand-building. Social networks are terrific media for storytelling, but brands should first concern themselves with story-doing—creating real value for customers through relevant and differentiated products, services and experiences. If you use social media to become “famous for being famous,” you obligate yourself to change according to the whims of its followers.