Legacy piping is damaging your brand

Since Cluedo launched in 1949, the lead pipe has been a murder weapon. One of six weapon tokens available in the game, the lead pipe was originally made out of actual lead. Up until 1965 when it was replaced with steel, there was a genuinely lethal weapon in the game.

There is documented proof that mankind has known about the poisonous effects of lead for over four-thousand years. But it took until the 1970s or thereabouts for people to start doing something about it.

So when I read a story in last week’s Economist about the “millions of Americans who still get their drinking water from lead pipes”, I was intrigued.

Chicago, in particular seems to have suffered more than most:

One study of nearly 3,000 [Chicago] homes, two years ago, found two-thirds had elevated levels of lead in their water.

Good news though. There has been a federal ban on new lead pipes since the mid eighties, and there’s a plan to replace all the existing lead piping in Chicago. The bad news? It’s going to cost in excess of $8.5bn. At their current pace, Chicago residents will have to wait until around the year 2550 to be lead free.

There are workarounds to the problem. In Milwaukee they flush a chemical solution through the pipes to coat the sides — in theory this prevents any particulates from mixing with the water. But the cost of this workaround? $400,000 a year.

So Milwaukee are also turning to replacing the pipes, with the aim of swapping out 1,100 each year. They estimate it costs $11,000 to replace one single pipe. They also estimate this taking over 70 years.

All in all, it looks like $50bn will be needed to replace the estimated ten million lead pipes in America.

The best intentions were present when the pipes were first laid, after all, the word Plumbing comes from the latin for lead: Plumbum. The Romans used lead piping for their plumbing (and some even believe it contributed to their downfall).

This is a prime example of a legacy system, and for the most part, legacy systems aren’t harmful. But when they are (as in the case of poisonous lead), they can do real damage.

Anyone who’s worked in an office will be familiar with the risks that IT legacy systems present to security. Legacy systems are also a critical problem in the aviation industry.

So what kind of damage are legacy systems doing to you? And when it comes to changing the plumbing of your brand, where do you start?

I can say with the utmost confidence that the one place you shouldn’t start is with your logo.

Forget about your logo. No one really cares.

Re-designing a logo without first understanding what your brand is actually about is the most common mistake brands make today.

Second to a logo, is your website. Put that to one-side for now too.

You probably need a new website, but you probably don’t know why. Often you’ll know that the existing one isn’t cutting the mustard anymore, but I promise that a lick of paint isn’t the right answer either.

You should only start at one place: strategy.

If you have £100,000 to invest in your brand, spend £80,000 of it on strategy. If you only have £5,000, spend it all on strategy and leave the visuals for another day. The importance of a logo is overrated. After all, the Nike logo is just a simple tick which Phil Knight paid $35 for, and he didn’t even like it.

Fast Company sums this up nicely:

Great brands are built from the inside out; they are built around a strong belief system and are driven by values. What your customers experience every time they interact with your company is the brand, not the visual identity. No one cares that your airline logo has been crafted out of unicorn tears and your visual language is AI-generated if their flight keeps getting cancelled or they get involuntarily de-boarded because you overbooked the flight.

A logo matters. But without the thinking behind your brand, it won’t matter as much as you hope.

Back to Chicago and Milwaukee for a moment.

Chicago or Milwaukee could’ve just gone in without a real plan and started refitting pipes. You could do the same thing wit yo.

You’ll probably make an impact too. But it won’t be meaningful, it won’t be authentic and it won’t last.

Before long, you’ll need to replace the same pipes all over again.

So take a moment to understand your mission, vision and values. Then, figure out how you’re different and how you’re going to tell that story. Finally, take a moment to figure out where you’re strong, where you’re weak and where you need to go.

Then, and only then should you actually change some plumbing.