There are many ways to kill a brand, some achieving this deadly result faster than others. Screwing up the customer relationship is, in my opinion, the "most successful" one. I recently had a truly awful customer experience from one of my beloved brands. After the initial shock, I tried to understand why this happened, and the conclusion I reached is that the company manufacturing the brand decided to put the profits well ahead of the customers' needs. We all see this happening increasingly more nowadays,  and I strongly believe that, at the core, the issue is that the financial department won the internal negotiation with the brand team.So, what actually…