When television shows cease being entertaining or their product no longer satisfies, producers often fall back on regurgitated jokes and banal or absurd themes to prop up the show. Audiences shrug. So it goes with any brand. When the creative energy and planning goes out of a brand, drastic measures must be taken to regain the interest of the consumer - else the curtains come down and the lights go out.

According to one consumer-products consultant and writer for Brandweek magazine, the lights began to go out on good brand development in the mid-1990s. It was then that monoliths Disney and McDonald's, world-leading brands at the time, made a much-ballyhooed decision to merge their marketing "synergies" - yet failed to deliver anything more spectacular than home-video releases and Happy Meal promotions.

Instead of bold visionary thinking, Disney and McDonald's produced Mickey-Mouse efforts. Instead of addressing its food quality, customer service and menu problems, McDonald's offered movie promotions. For its part, Disney abandoned any pretense of long-term brand building with a "milk the Mouse" approach. It was once a transcendent brand whose name guaranteed magic, imagination and wholesome family fun. But now Disney had an accomplice to help them churn out mindless sequels and straight-to-video releases.

If marketers of great brands hope to earn back the respect of customers, they need to get serious about the product, and put the 99-Cent Value Menu and Jungle Book ideas back in their proper place.