Roger Clemens seems to be the type of person who lives life on the edge. The scandals surrounding possible steroid use, lawsuits, and now an alleged relationship with another troubled person: Mindy McCready, has the former baseball star in the news again.
The latest is Clemens may have been in a 10-year romantic relationship with the scandal-ridden singer and celebrity: Mindy McCready, who has been in and out of jail over the last several years. He first met her when she was 15-years-old and he was a 28-year-old married father of two.
One thing to keep in mind here in branding, is there is an invisible line that can be crossed in living life on the edge, and when that line is crossed, it's no longer considered a valuable and dynamic asset, but a destructive element that can bring the whole house down.
That has probably happened with Clemens now. How much endorsement money has he lost, along with his reputation, over the last couple years? Who would want to place their product or service beside his name or image?
When you consider the what the future held for Clemens after baseball, it's one of those thing you really can't figure out.
As far as branding and marketing go, it's a good reminder on how we need to protect our brand and know the difference between how far we can go with it.
Clemens is an example of going way too far. No matter how strong a brand we have, it can be destroyed quickly if we aren't making decisions that not only enhance it, but protect it as well.
We need to be on the offensive as well as the defensive when dealing with our brand. If we do one without the other, we will probably end up destroying it. Clemens may have done that, and he was one of the few that seemed to be a sure thing. We can't embrace the luxury of believing that with our company, product or service name.
Having said all that, the reason I think the Roger Clemens brand is dead isn't because he couldn't redeem himself, but he seems to refuse to take responsibility for his actions, and has a pattern of going too far.
If we don't adapt and make changes as we go forward, we are guaranteed to go around in circles in whatever we're doing; we won't be going forward, but are doomed to make the same mistakes over and over again.
A brand can't survive that when it contradicts what it says it represents.
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