• by Ulli Appelbaum , Yesterday

What’s holding consumers back from buying your brand? Too often, marketers focus only on growth drivers while ignoring the barriers that keep people away. Negative brand associations — whether about quality, relevance, or user imagery — can quietly erode sales. The good news: they can also be powerful growth opportunities. Here are five proven strategies, plus one that usually backfires.

Address the negative head-on. McDonald’s Finland tackled growing concerns about food quality — rumors of “pink slime” in chicken nuggets — through its “Our Food, Your Questions” campaign. A website invited consumers to ask anything, with answers turned into digital films. The payoff: food quality perceptions rose 29%, trust scores jumped 35%, and sales climbed 14%. Transparency and truthfulness, when credible, can disarm skepticism and rebuild trust.

Tap into shared human truths. When U.S. sales and brand reputation faltered in the late 2010s, McDonald’s shifted focus from critics to fans. Wieden + Kennedy’s “Famous Orders” campaign reminded consumers that everyone — from BTS to Travis Scott — has a personal McDonald’s order. By evoking emotional memories and rituals instead of rational arguments, the campaign generated $283 million in incremental sales and an eight-times-average ROMI. Sometimes the best antidote to negativity is nostalgia rooted in shared human truths.

Reframe a “negative” into a virtue. Some brands have turned negative brand associations into assets. Heinz justified its slow pour as proof of quality. Listerine positioned its harsh taste as evidence of efficacy. Guinness embraced the 119.5-second pour with the line “Good things come to those who wait.” Done credibly, reframing flips liability into differentiation.

Fix barriers to accessibility. Sometimes the issue isn’t perception but reality. Wrong price point, inconvenient packaging, or formats that don’t fit usage occasions can block purchase. Ehrenberg-Bass research underscored the need to remove these frictions to grow penetration and physical availability. Adjusting attributes, portfolio, or pricing can expand availability and unlock growth.

 Refresh core associations. Even absent big negatives, brands can lose relevance if associations feel dated or stale. KitKat revived its “Have a Break” idea by reframing what “taking a break” means today. Other confectionery brands have reinterpreted “happiness” for younger audiences. Refreshing, rather than reinventing, keeps core equities alive in a contemporary way.

The strategy to avoid: insulting your own customers.

When the issue is user imagery, attacking your current base is a dangerous move. Harley-Davidson wrestled with being seen as a brand for “old white guys.” Tiffany’s “Not Your Mother’s Tiffany” campaign alienated wealthy loyalists while trying to woo Gen Z, and was pulled after two weeks. Bud Light’s CMO dismissing its existing consumers on a podcast triggered backlash that damaged the U.S.’s biggest beer brand. The lesson: Growth should come from inclusion, not exclusion.

The takeaway

Brand stewards must understand both positive and negative associations within their brand’s association network. Some negatives can be disarmed with honesty, reframed into virtues, or overcome by tapping into emotional truths. Others require product fixes or refreshed relevance. But targeting new audiences by ridiculing existing customers almost always backfires.