Attrition Brand Building
Keep the brand active through highs and lows until familiarity compounds
- Difficulty
- Expert
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 96%
McFarlane calls attrition one of the ways to build a brand that lasts. Sales and attention will have high and low periods, but the property keeps operating and appearing in different places. Over time, people accumulate partial familiarity even if they never buy, while former fans remain reachable when a new movie, record, or release appears. The asset is no longer one issue or one year's result; it is the combined memory of every cohort that encountered the property. Continued presence creates options to peel part of that accumulated audience toward the next move. The mechanism requires persistence and broad visibility, but not denial of economics: McFarlane kept Spawn's machinery going because he valued the long-term sum of the property beyond a weak individual period.
Origin
McFarlane explains how continuing Spawn through sales lulls helped the character accumulate recognition over 30 years.
Core principles
- 01A durable brand survives both high and low periods
- 02Repeated exposure accumulates familiarity even without immediate purchase
- 03Long-term value is the sum of many audience cohorts
- 04Continuity preserves the option to reactivate former fans
How to run it
- 1
Choose for endurance
Select a property worth sustaining beyond one release or temporary attention cycle.
Pro tip Define the ambition in decades rather than around one campaign.
Watch out Longevity should not excuse continuing a property with no audience evidence.
- 2
Keep the machinery moving
Maintain enough output and presence to prevent the brand from disappearing during low periods.
Watch out Protect sustainable economics so persistence remains possible.
- 3
Occupy many corners
Let people encounter the brand across varied contexts during both good and bad periods.
Pro tip Familiarity can accumulate even without an immediate transaction.
- 4
Retain every cohort
Treat past fans as latent members of the broader audience rather than as permanently lost customers.
- 5
Reactivate the sum
When a major new move arrives, invite portions of the accumulated audience back into the property.
Pro tip Measure the value of long memory, not only current-period sales.
In the wild
Spawn experienced periods when comic sales were weak, but McFarlane kept the property active. People who encountered it five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years earlier remain potential audience members when a new film or release appears.
→ The property's value became the sum of decades of audience exposure rather than one issue's performance.
Common mistakes
Judging one weak period
A single low year can obscure the accumulated value of a property built across many audience cohorts.
Confusing persistence with proof
Attrition compounds existing recognition; it does not guarantee that an unwanted property becomes valuable merely by continuing.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for properties with long-term creative potential and economics that permit continued operation through lulls.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for a product with no evidence of audience interest or losses that make continued operation unsafe.
From the transcript
“I think one of the ways to create a brand that does have some value is using another word, and it's called attrition.”
“the value, at some point, isn't now any single issue or any single year, it's now sum total of all of it.”
From the episode
#643: Todd McFarlane, Iconic Comic Book Artist — Lessons from Stan Lee, How to Make Art that Outlives You, How to Compete with Corporate Giants and Win (While Having Fun), Dealmaking Strategies, War Stories from Wall Street and Lawyer Land, Taking Responsibility for Your Life, and Why Creators Need to Smash Limits
Stan Lee