https://www.alainguillot.com/the-decline-of-iconic-brands/

Big, iconic brands that once seemed untouchable are falling out of favor. These companies prided themselves on having a moat—a barrier that keeps competitors at bay. For example, Coca-Cola is such a powerful brand that any potential competitor must invest millions of dollars in marketing just to capture a small share of the soft drink market.

However, things are changing rapidly; these moats are becoming less effective. Traditional marketing methods are evolving, and newcomer brands are eroding the power of established ones.

1. Failure to Adapt to New Marketing Channels: The era of glossy magazines and TV advertising is over. The new generation consumes media on platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. Young influencers can emerge seemingly out of nowhere, building a following of millions and launching their own brands, challenging well-established brands in both reach and cost.

For example:

• Rihanna, with over 300 million followers, owns the brand Fenty Beauty.
• Kylie Jenner, who has over 500 million followers, owns Kylie Cosmetics.
• Kim Kardashian, with over 400 million followers, owns the brand Skims.

These influencers have gradually taken market share from established cosmetic brands such as Estée Lauder, Revlon, and L’Oréal. However, event the well stablished influencers are facing competition themselves from a new wave of younger influencers.

2. Intensified competition. Well established brands such as Macy’s and Gap are losing the battle to e-commerce giants like Amazon. New Balance and Hoka are taking a bigger and bigger piece of the pie of the sneaker’s market from Nike. Netflix has obliterated all traditional cable TV and other streaming services.

3. Brand stagnation: The attitude of many brands is as follows: “If it isn’t broken why fix it?” But the world keeps on changing and if you don’t change with the world, you are left behind. Several companies, much like Kodak, have experienced significant brand stagnation, often due to technological disruption, resistance to innovation, or a slow response to changing market trends. Other examples are:

• Blackberry, displaced by Apple
• Blockbuster, destroyed by Netflix
• Sears, displaced by Walmart and Amazon.

4. A backlash against WOKE culture. In an attempt to virtual signal, many brands, such as Bud Light, Ben & Jerry’s, Target, and Disney, have embraced “woke” culture and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, prompting a backlash from consumers. Many people are frustrated with the ongoing discussions around gender issues and prefer to adhere to traditional definitions of gender, believing that a man is a man and a woman is a woman. This sentiment extends to a reluctance to use non-binary pronouns. Just because the person in from of them has mental health problems, doesn’t mean that they have to play along in their imaginary world.

Additionally, there is considerable opposition to biological men participating in women’s sports and using girls’ bathrooms. Many consumers also express discomfort with the representation of fat people or transgender models in Victoria’s Secret lingerie advertisements, feeling that these changes do not align with their preferences. Furthermore, many advocate for meritocracy in hiring practices, asserting that qualifications should take precedence over considerations of gender, race, or sexual orientation.

Just today Boing announced that they’re scrapping their global diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) department as part of an overhaul of operations, in order to compete, not on virtual signaling but on the quality of their products.

To survive, brans have to continuously reinvent themselves. A good example is Microsoft under the leadership of Satya Nadella. Under the leadership of Steve Ballmer Microsoft was stagnant, becoming irrelevant but then when Satya Nadella came into the leadership, Microsoft was revitalized and it’s now one if the most innovative and

https://www.alainguillot.com/hopeless-about-money/

I have a few young friends and family members, and I often try to spark their interest in the stock market, investing, or starting new ventures. Sometimes, I get a few nods and smiles; other times I get an eye roll, but most of the time I get ignored or dismissed.

When I came to Canada, I had one main goal in life: to learn about investments and become a millionaire. Although I’m not a millionaire yet, I’ve learned quite a bit about investing. I am so surprised that my younger friends don’t share the same interest in building wealth.

I think young people are disillusioned with traditional financial goals, especially regarding retirement or buying a house. This attitude is shaped by several factors: housing is expensive, education is expensive and oftentimes it doesn’t get you a good job, and healthcare is difficult to get; wages are not enough to cover the cost of living; and there is a perceived lack of stability in the economy and job market. Additionally, young people are constantly bombarded with advertisements for products and lifestyles that they cannot afford, often leaving them financially hopeless. For all these reasons, the classic vision of “work hard, save, and retire” feels out of reach—and even irrelevant.

While the stock market has become more accessible than ever through apps like Public and Robinhood, these platforms have also created unrealistic expectations. If you aren’t making 100% per year by buying the latest meme stock, or crypto currency, they wonder “why bother?” The typical investment in the stock market that produces a healthy 8% seems to be so inadequate for someone who is struggling to pay this month’s rent.

For young people who are curious about investments, navigating the stock market is often challenging due to an avalanche of information, financial jargon, and unscrupulous advisors who want to sell them financial products with high management fees.

There’s also a persistent myth that real estate is the best way to build wealth. However, with today’s high property prices, maintenance demands, and often modest returns after factoring in all costs, real estate isn’t the wealth-building path it once was. Yet, the myth endures due to cultural conditioning and stories of past successes. This trend means that while the bottom 50% of earners tend to have most of their wealth tied up in real estate, the top 10% are more likely to have their wealth in the stock market or private businesses.

I believe we need to do better in educating our youth on how to become savvy investors, rather than relying on financial advisors or managers who prey on clients’ lack of knowledge. Young people need to understand how the stock market works—and that they can participate in it, even with small amounts of money.

I think financial literacy should be taught in high schools, after all not everyone will need to know calculus, physics, or gender studies, but everyone will need to, at one moment or another, invest the money they earn from their labor.

How would you inspire curiosity in young people about the stock market and investing? What strategies or approaches would you use to make these topics feel exciting and relevant?”

https://www.alainguillot.com/why-elon-musk-turned-to-the-right/ Elon Musk is one of the business leaders I admire most. With the U.S. elections approaching and Elon Musk putting his support behind Donald Trump, I wanted to understand why, especially since he was once more aligned with the Democratic Party. His shift in political alliances is particularly interesting given that only a few years ago, his main concern was to alleviate climate change and that’s one of the reasons why he put most of his energy in creating Tesla. For those who may not know, Elon Musk is the head of Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink, and several other innovative companies. He is also the richest person in the world. There are multiple factors that contributed to this shift to the right, so let’s unpack some of them. It all started during the early days of COVID-19, when Musk became the world’s wealthiest person. Around that time, Senator Elizabeth Warren began attacking him for being a billionaire, labeling him the face of corporate greed. She blamed him for income inequality and accused him of not paying his fair share of taxes. Here is a clip of her criticizing Elon Musk when he bought Twitter. Personally, I believe that if someone contributes enough value to the marketplace to become a billionaire, they should be celebrated. After all, in the process of amassing wealth, they’ve created products and services that people want to buy, they have also created millions of job, and billionaires have made American an economic, global powerhouse. Instead of condemning billionaires, Warren and other politicians should be celebrating the fact that the U.S. allows creative, innovative, and risk-taking individuals to build wealth not only for themselves but for the broader economy. Things escalated further during the Biden administration. Biden, who prides himself on being the “most pro-union president in history,” clashed with Elon Musk over his opposition to unions in Tesla factories. There was a notable incident in Detroit when Biden praised the CEO of General Motors, Mary Barra, for their work on electric vehicles, completely ignoring Tesla—even though Tesla commands 80% of the U.S. EV market. Biden consistently praised GM’s CEO, Mary Barra, as the leader of the EV revolution, despite Tesla’s clear dominance in the sector. Here is a clip of Biden praising Mary Barra. I don’t believe in unions, I believe that unions are harmful for the economy and I think that politicians should not pressure employers to accept unions in their shops. If employees are unhappy with their jobs or think they deserve better, they should seek other opportunities somewhere else or, better yet they should start their own businesses. Another point of contention is the Democratic party’s support for DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives such as affirmative action. The Democratic party believes that blacks and other minorities should get some kind of preferential treatment for the sake of having a more diverse workplace. Elon Musk on the other hand prefers a meritocratic system and insist on doing his hiring based on merit, not on the color, race, or sexual orientation of a person. I also believe it’s problematic to hire people based on their belonging to an underrepresented minority rather than on their merit. The final issue that turned Elon Musk to the right was more personal, Elon Musk has a transgender daughter, a man who dresses as a woman. He claims that California’s liberal policies makes it too easy for a teenager change sex, and interestingly enough transgender people feel more aligned with the Democratic party. This issue turned Elon Musk more to the right. Here is a clip of Elon Musk talking about losing his son to what he calls the “Woke Mind Virus.” Similarly, I tend to believe that a man is a man, a woman is a woman, and that transgender people are people who have mental health problems.