New Year, same trouble-prone habits. No surprise there. A widespread lack of understanding about brands, along with a disregard for the fundamentals of brand-building, growth, and stewardship, continues to undermine organizations, producing unprofitable, short-term results. Set aside, for a moment, the remarkable digital, technological, and AI disruptions and breakthroughs: there are foundational brand principles that must not only be respected but actively applied if you want sustainable, profitable growth. Ignoring these basics creates serious, recurring problems. The scale or fame of your brand is irrelevant. Whether large or small, mass-market or niche, if you fail to manage your brands correctly, they will underperform and may drift toward irrelevance. This article is part of Branding Strategy Insider’s newsletter. Join the world’s smartest marketers and subscribe here for actionable insights delivered straight to your inbox. Brands can, in theory, endure indefinitely. There is no built-in expiration date. When brands falter or even disappear, it is usually due to the self-inflicted decisions of their owners. Brands as different as Vera Bradley, known for its floral and paisley quilted bags, and Kraft Heinz’s iconic yet struggling Kraft mac & cheese, are both experiencing the consequences of poor brand management. These near self-sabotaging behaviors emerged because leadership either never learned or willfully dismissed brand fundamentals. Vera Bradley 1) drifted away from its core customer base. As a publicly traded company, Vera Bradley 2) prioritized pleasing financial analysts over delighting customers. These two patterns are clear “stop immediately” behaviors. Fortunately, Vera Bradley is now beginning to shift its…