Brand are complicated. Managing brands is not.

In 1931, young Procter & Gamble manager Neil H. McElroy wrote a memo with the principles for how a “brand man” should do the job. Simplified, there were seven:

1. Measure success: track results by product and location.
2. Learn from success: study which activities have worked and try to apply those lessons to comparable markets.
3. Investigate and correct weak performance. Review past efforts, speak with customers and frontline partners, diagnose the problem, and develop a new plan. Secure management support, equip the sales team, stay involved through execution, and keep records.
4. Take full personal responsibility for all work.
5. Take full personal responsibility for all money spent.
6. Keep improving the product’s presentation.
7. Stay close to local teams. Meet regularly to identify what’s not working and learn what’s happening on the ground.

His principles helped define modern brand management.

McElroy wrote the memo because he believed in these principles—and to make the case for two additional staff. Today, we have too little of the former and too much of the latter.

Brands rarely fail because the team is too small. They fail when nobody studies success, confronts weak performance, takes personal responsibility, or stays close enough to the market to know what’s going on.

Brands are complicated.
The principles of managing them are not.