Here is an excerpt from an article written by Robert Passikoff and featured by the CustomerThink website. To read the complete article, check out other resources, and sign up for email alerts, please click here.

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In 2000 the average tenure of a CEO was 10 years. In 2008 it was down to 8½, signaling a slightly higher degree of corporate and brand accountability by boards and shareholders. Bet you Ron Johnson, the now former-CEO of JCPenney wishes the retailer had a Time Machine Department about now. He only lasted 17 months.

We can’t imagine that anyone is surprised. The results of his efforts were dismal. Grim. jcp (Mr. Johnson “modernized” the name and logo) lost $552 million in the 4th Quarter, nearly a billion dollars for the year, and sales fell nearly 29% versus a year ago. Oh, and JCPenney share lost half their value during Mr. Johnson’s tenure. So really, really grim.

Mr. Johnson, got rid of sales, instituted low-price guarantees, got rid of brands, got rid of “fake prices,” negotiated for new brands, brought back sales and coupons, planned to re-design stores, and then brought back “fake prices.” None of which worked. To paraphrase Yogi Berra, who apparently knew as much about Department Store retailing as Mr. Johnson, “if the customers don’t want to come to the store, you can’t stop ‘em.”

Nobody would deny that retailing has gotten tougher in the past few years, but equally so, brands have learned that if they can create some degree of emotional engagement (in additional to the rational stuff like Merchandise Range, Fair Pricing Strategies, and Customer Service), they are bound to see positive behavior toward the brand. And yes, it’s gotten harder for retailers to provide meaningful and engaging differentiation as regards their brands.

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To read the complete article, please click here.

Robert Passikoff, Founder and President of Brand Keys, Inc., pioneered research in loyalty and engagement, creating the Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index®, the Sports Fan Loyalty Index®, and the Women’s Wear Daily Fashion Brand Engagement Index®. His first best-selling book, Predicting Market Success provides marketers a 21st century perspective on predictive loyalty metrics. His newest book is The Certainty Principle: How to Guarantee Brand Profits in the Consumer Engagement Marketplace.