TL;DR
Even a disastrous brand like Fyre Festival retained value, selling for $245,000, because brand equity endures. Brand is more than reputation. It’s awareness, emotion, and distinctiveness in a crowded market. Protect it, invest in it, and deliver on it. In a noisy, commoditised world, brand remains your sharpest competitive edge.
In a world awash with noise, AI-generated content, indistinguishable products, and attention spans that rival goldfish, one thing still cuts through: brand.
And nothing illustrates the stubborn, sometimes baffling value of brand better than the sale of the Fyre Festival name on eBay earlier this year… for $245,000.
Yes. That Fyre Festival. The spectacularly mismanaged luxury music festival that stranded influencers on an island with FEMA tents, sad cheese sandwiches, and no musical acts. The one that became the punchline of a generation.
Yet despite its spectacular failure and widespread ridicule, someone still paid a quarter of a million dollars for the rights to the name. Why? Because brand has gravity. Even when it’s scorched.
In today’s business landscape, where anyone can spin up a product and use AI to churn out decent-enough marketing copy, that gravity is more important than ever. Brand is what keeps you from blending into the beige of commoditisation.
Let’s unpack what this means for marketers and why protecting and investing in your brand is no longer optional.
The Fyre That Won’t Burn Out
For those who missed the Netflix documentary (lucky you), Fyre Festival promised a once-in-a-lifetime luxury experience: yachts, models, private villas, gourmet meals, and top-tier musical acts.
What attendees actually got was… different.
The event became a global cautionary tale, a meme factory, and a masterclass in how not to deliver on a brand promise. And yet, the brand, the name “Fyre Festival”, didn’t disappear into obscurity. It retained recognition, cultural cachet, and economic value.
Why? Because brand isn’t just what you do. It’s what you own in people’s minds.
Even a negative association can carry equity if it’s memorable, distinctive, and emotionally charged. People remember Fyre Festival, and in a crowded market, being remembered is half the battle.
What This Tells Us About Brand
Brand Is More Than Reputation
Many people conflate “brand” with “reputation.” But reputation is just one dimension.
Brand is broader, it’s the sum total of awareness, associations, and emotional resonance you’ve built.
Fyre’s reputation? Awful.
Fyre’s brand? Iconic.
There’s a lesson there.
If you’ve built a brand strong enough to be memorable, even for the wrong reasons, you have something valuable. But of course, the goal is to build memorable and positive.
Brand Cuts Through the Wash
In today’s digital landscape, especially with the flood of AI-generated content making everything feel a bit more bland, brand remains your sharpest edge.
A strong brand gives people a reason to choose you before they even compare specs or prices.
It’s what keeps you from being just another name in the scroll.
It makes you sticky.
Of course, not all brands bounce back. Plenty are forgotten because they never invested in memorability in the first place. If you don’t take control of your narrative and stay present in people’s minds, your brand equity will fade.
Brand Equity Endures
Your product might fail. Your campaign might flop. But if you’ve invested in your brand, it can survive, and even help you recover.
Look at Crocs, mocked for years, now a multi-billion-dollar company riding a resurgence.
Or Polaroid, rendered obsolete by digital cameras, then reborn as a retro-chic icon.
Even Blackberry still sells devices in niche markets.
A well-built brand gives you resilience. A neglected one evaporates.
So How Do You Protect and Grow Your Brand?
If brand is one of your most valuable assets, you can’t afford to treat it as an afterthought. Here’s what we recommend:
Invest in Consistency
Your brand lives in the details, colours, tone of voice, user experience, and messaging. Inconsistent brands are forgettable or, worse, confusing.
Deliver on Your Promise
Fyre Festival’s biggest sin wasn’t overhyping. It was under-delivering. A bold promise is fine. Just make sure you can back it up.
Own Your Narrative
When things go wrong (and they will), respond thoughtfully and transparently. Don’t let others define your story for you.
Monitor and Measure
Track sentiment, awareness, and recall. Your brand health should be as closely monitored as your bottom line.
Be Memorable for the Right Reasons
You don’t need to manufacture a spectacle to get attention. Focus on creating experiences, products, and content that stick, for the right reasons.
Why This Matters More Than Ever
In a landscape where anyone can create a lookalike product and drown you out with automated content, your brand is what sets you apart.
It’s your moat.
It’s your magnet.
It’s your insurance policy when the market turns against you.
And as Fyre Festival’s sale shows, even a damaged brand can still be worth something. But why aim for damaged when you can aim for durable?
Big goals deserve bold moves. Tell us where you want to go. We’ll help you get there.
How can a failed brand like Fyre Festival still sell for $245,000?
Because brand equity endures, even when the reputation is bad, the awareness and emotional resonance still carry value.
Isn’t brand just your reputation?
No. Reputation is just one part of brand. Brand is also about distinctiveness, memorability, and emotional connection.
Why does brand matter now more than ever?
In a world of AI-generated sameness and commoditised products, brand is what sets you apart and keeps you memorable.
What happens if I don’t invest in my brand?
It fades. Brands that don’t stay consistent, distinctive, and present risk becoming irrelevant and forgotten.
So what should I do?
Protect and grow your brand by staying consistent, delivering on your promises, owning your narrative, and making yourself memorable, for the right reasons.