Yeah they seem to think of “brand value” as loyalty akin to what people feel for a local sports team, and some brands do have that “hometown favorite” value. I know my hometown brand of potato chips definitely does taste like home. But also, they need to be thinking of it in a term that business ghouls can understand: professional reputation.

The organization of subway has a bad professional reputation. Its customers are unimpressed by its services in their transactions with it, they feel it offers a bad value proposition.

Businesses have gotten accustomed to the brand treadmill rather than just doing something well and being ok with the margins that provides. And if it isn’t an investment in growth a business should be able to reach that point where it finds stability and maintains it, providing stable profits.