Brand vs. Buzz: How to Evolve Without Losing Your Brand Soul

The pressure to reinvent is constant. Scroll through your feed, and it’s clear: brands are launching flashy LTOs, creating meme-worthy menu hacks, and building entire campaigns around the trend of the moment. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this approach, as attention is indeed a form of currency. However, when buzz becomes the only strategy, brands risk losing the very thing that makes them worth remembering.

As someone who’s worked across industries and spent more than two decades in the marketing world, I’ve seen what happens when brands chase relevance without intention. Short-term spikes in visibility don’t always translate into long-term loyalty. What does? A clear sense of identity and the discipline to grow around it, not away from it.

At Taco John’s, we’re not trying to be everything to everyone. We know who we are, a brand with over 50 years of history rooted in bold flavors, premium ingredients, and a touch of small-town charm. Our guests love us for our signature items, such as Potato Olés®, and our unapologetically unique take on tacos. So, when we think about evolution, our priority isn’t disruption. It’s amplification. How do we modernize without compromising the character that got us here.

Refresh Without Reinvention

Change is often mistaken for progress. However, meaningful evolution doesn’t always require starting over; it begins with restraint and clarity. Before you rush into a rebrand or menu overhaul, you can take stock of what’s already working. What elements of your identity still resonate? What do guests consistently return for? Often, the the most effective updates involve re-framing familiar assets rather than replacing them.

This could involve updating the tone of your messaging to reflect shifting cultural norms, the visual identity of a long-standing menu item, or simply modernizing service channels to meet guests where they are digitally. The refresh should feel like a natural progression, not a departure from the original. If the evolution doesn’t connect to something authentic, it risks falling flat or confusing your base.

Know the Difference Between Innovation and Impulse

Marketing teams today are surrounded by noise. Social trends come and go at lightning speed, and the temptation to jump in is real. But not every trend aligns with your brand’s DNA. The hard part, and what I see as a modern CMO’s responsibility, is knowing when to lean in and when to sit it out.

Innovation is only valuable if it adds something meaningful to the customer experience and builds brand equity over time. Otherwise, it's just noise. 

To be clear, innovation is critical, but it has to come from a place of authenticity. When we experiment at Taco John’s, it’s within a framework that makes sense for our brand.

That means testing bold new flavors that still feel familiar, introducing digital tools that streamline ordering without losing the personal touch, and investing in loyalty programs that strengthen long-term guest relationships instead of just driving one-time visits. 

Innovation is only valuable if it adds something meaningful to the customer experience and builds brand equity over time. Otherwise, it's just noise. 

Elevate What You Already Own

One of the most underrated strategies in branding is simply being proud of what you already have. Legacy brands often feel pressure to reinvent to stay relevant. There is enormous value in legacy, if you know how to position it.

We view our heritage as a platform for storytelling. Guests want a connection. They want to feel like a brand stands for something. So rather than hiding our quirks or rewriting our history, we look for ways to celebrate them. That might mean leaning into nostalgia, spotlighting proprietary flavors, or inviting a new generation of guests to discover the brand in a way that feels rooted but fresh.

In a way, legacy items are cultural icons. It’s our job to remind people why they matter and how they still fit into today’s food culture. This doesn’t mean resisting change; it means using our past to inform a stronger, more confident present. 

Brand Health Is Built Behind the Scenes

The flashiest campaigns often get the most attention, but the strongest brands are built through consistency. Investing in things like store design, team culture, digital infrastructure, and guest experience may not make headlines, but they create trust, which is far more durable than buzz.

True brand health shows up in everyday details: Are you delivering on your promise? Are you building systems that make it easier for guests to engage and operators to succeed? Are your updates sustainable, or are they one-offs? The brands that can answer “yes” to those questions are the ones positioned to thrive long after the hype fades.

At Taco John’s, we’ve made strategic investments in technology and store design not because they’re trendy, but because they enhance the guest experience and support franchisees’ success. That’s what brand health looks like, aligning what you promise with what you deliver, every single day.

There’s no doubt that buzz can build awareness. At the same time, brand soul builds loyalty. The most effective marketing today is grounded in truth, not tactics. It's tempting to chase what's trending, but long-term growth comes from knowing who you are and making that matter to your audience.

As marketers, we must constantly ask ourselves: Are we evolving with purpose, or are we just reacting out of fear of being left behind? The brands that ask this question honestly, and act on it with intention, are the ones that will not only survive, but also lead.