08 October 2010

Branding is Bulls#!t



While the visual above is humorous, the article that accompanied it was very serious and necessarily honest. A brief summary would not do it justice, so I have provided some excerpts below. It is a note worth reading in its entirety (link provided below).

"In consumer terms, a brand is a noun; but it’s an intangible entity, more an idea than a thing. The brand is a perception, the consumer’s image of a company (or other entity/product) that comes from experience. A brand is also a reputation, developed over time. It’s earned."

"As a graphic designer who designs logos and moving images, I do not claim to brand. I create visual identity. Hopefully the identity accurately and effectively represents the organization it was created for. It may contribute to the public’s reaction to the organization, but ultimately, it’s simply the packaging of the sensory components of the consumers’ experience."

"All we can really control is the quality of the guidance and direction that we provide our clients. We can help them arrive at a more clear, meaningful understanding of who they are as organizations, and why that matters to their stakeholders. We can help shape the platform and the tools by which they communicate their promise to these stakeholders. We can make strategic recommendations of where and how their brands are experienced. But what we can’t do is control the rational, emotional or perceptual relationships that one has with a brand."
-Comment by mnead

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