Great article in Forbes on when Innovation is not the answer. I love their piece on Icons- if you are lucky enough to have a brand icon, don’t be tempted to relaunch it and mess it up. Whatever happened to the Man from del Monte a UK advertising icon destroyed by an agency keen to do something new for the sake of being new. How many icons are there in the ambient juice category – really?  In this case the ad agency brand planners  decided that the Man from DM was a little retro, a bit too ‘colonial’ and his ‘saying yes’ was an unfair judgement on the low paid fruit pickers. There is a difference between creating a little more love around your brand and losing one of the most memorable, recognisable, in fact one might even say unique icons in the category.  Mistake. A classic example of When not to Innovate.

The Man From del Monte Says ‘Yes’- brand icon