Brands Can Never Be Founded On Lies

I watched a documentary on #Netflix about OceanGate, the infamous submersible that made headlines for making it to the sunken #Titanic depths of the North Atlantic Ocean. “Oh, poor Jack, if only Rose had a bigger floating plank of wooden debris!” — Thoughts whenever I remember Titanic.

Anyway, the reason why OceanGate is famous is not only because of its expeditions to the Titanic wreckage, but because of the failed attempt to sustain the depths where the Titanic lay.

See, their leader, Stockton Rush, was a self-proclaimed maverick who intended to do the impossible through his company, his #brand — OceanGate.

From what I gathered from the documentary, the beginning of this mission was characterised by all the great hallmarks of a brand: an #identity, defined #values, a specific #goal, a #strategy to achieve it, great #storytelling, and a great #team. This recipe made the hope of achieving this goal just a tad greater than how impossible it was perceived to be.

So Stockton and the team got to work. But like every other exploration mission, nothing is very certain. The risks are beyond your usual 9-to-5 job, and the team knew it. In such a situation, honesty is key, not just as a professional courtesy but as a basic respect for human life.

And like any other expedition, even slight successes receive huge praise and publicity. With that comes more funding and fueled ambition to keep going. At this point, the multiple failed attempts don’t even seem to matter, only the future possibilities — a notion that would be proved so wrong by Stockton.

For the OceanGate submersible (what is locally known as a submarine), the failed attempts were like a giant warning sign, a huge red flag that even spoke. Yes, the submersible actually told Stockton’s team that it was too risky.

How? Well, when the engineering team decided to explore more affordable ways of constructing the submersible in 2013, it led to testing of the submersible in late 2020–2022, where acoustic monitors were used to detect snapping sounds in the carbon fibre-titanium hull of the vessel. This means that when it was exposed to high pressure and the structure began to fail, they would be able to detect it because carbon fibres, like tight strings, release sound when they break.

In keeping with branding, this was great because it was like a monitoring and evaluation matrix to help you know when you are veering off the intended brand direction. This saves time, money, and other resources in the journey to #buildingbrands.

Now, this OceanGate M&E tool seemed to have worked too well because it kept warning Stockton and the team of the dangers of trying to reach Titanic depths of over 3,800 meters below sea level. Time after time, engineers evaluated faults in the hull’s construction, cracks after tests, and failures in the carbon fibre-titanium material, the deeper they tried to go — and Stockton broke.

Read about Blind Brand Strategy

Against the #brandguideline he had started with, he began to lie. He fired those who stuck with the truth and continued to build a false brand in the public eye, especially using the media. He put a news anchor and social media influencer at risk, who had no idea of the technical risks involved. And just like that, the #team began to resign; some were fired, leaving behind those who conformed or were completely oblivious.

The result: June 18, 2023, five lives lost, including Stockton’s, and families devastated.

This is an extreme case proving what happens when we lose #brandidentity, which radiates from inside to the outside world. You can masquerade as whatever you want on the outside, but a true brand is what is on the inside — “Hauwezi paka mafuta tu.” Brands can never be founded on lies.