It does seam to me that in this age people go to the brand that they recognize much faster than they will picking it out of the hat. There is less of a reputation than is possible in a place where two families haul freight and one will get it there and one will not so search them out. Now, and in the more sophisticated markets people have for a while associated slick and sexy with get it done.

I hope that Da Big Cheese is right and we are moving back with the power of the internet to the place where you can get service from those who can ship the freight and not just the guys with the prettiest branding.

On it’s own, branding is meaningless and definitely not a magic pill for success.

The point is, to FIRST build the good products and services. But how you present these products and services to the world DOES play a role (obviously) in a companies success.

When a person comes in contact with your business, they make a decision based on what they perceive you as, and file it away in their brain. People make a decision about your business far before they have a chance to try your products/services. It could actually be argued that your brand will determine if a customer takes a chance on your product/service or not.

It seems you are talking about branding a company and not paying attention to actually developing quality products/services. Well that’s not the point of branding. Branding is meant to position a company in the most effective way that ALREADY has a good offering.

If a company had good products/services but presented them in a very ineffective way, well I think you know that is a recipe for failure.

It doesn’t replace hard work and good products. But I don’t think anyone is saying that. And if they are, they are quite oblivious.

But to think a company is going to succeed ONLY because they have a good offering is silly.

Not saying anyone is saying these things. To be honest, I have a hard time deciphering what your exact standpoint is.

On the web I’m aware of many brands, but content rules. Google provides me context sensitive search results. Brand only comes into play when the content is similar value.

-=Dan=-

My thoughts on this topic stem from my belief that a company has very little impact or ability to control or manage its brand in this age of ‘community’. People are becoming less and less aware of brands and more and more aware of what people are talking about, recommending, sharing and doing.

The expectations built and delivered by agencies in the past that a corporation can bend the public to their will through effective ‘branding’ is dead.

Perhaps you think that we are simply splitting hairs about how we define ‘branding’ vs ‘experience’. My perspective is that experience comes from the consumer side and is action orientated while branding comes from the corporate world and is more thought focused.

The coin has two sides. The ‘brand’ side being what people ‘think’, the ‘experience’ side is what people do. At E-Cubed we’d rather focus on the ‘do’ part. We want them to buy, subscribe, interact and to engage. Conversion is King.

I am not saying that some of the traditional thoughts about ‘branding’ do not have their place or that they do not contribute to part of the ‘do’ process but when push comes to shove I’d rather deliver tangible, measurable business results for my client than a bunch of pretty pictures that I can put in my ‘branding’ portfolio.

Actions speak louder than words.

First off, thanks for your commentary. I appreciate your feedback, even if you don’t agree.

I actually don’t think we’re all that different from each other. I to own a small “branding” or “experience” agency (http://www.57studios.com), and like you, we don’t just offer “ethereal concepts” to our clients.

But I would like to hear your commentary on why you feel “branding” and “experience” are different. My argument is that they are one and the same. Through branding, you are creating an experience, the goal in which is to drive customers to buy your products, use your services, etc.

My premise is that in order to provide effective solutions (which is what clients want), you must have a focused strategy. How will you determine what solutions are truly effective if you do not spend time defining what the “experience” needs to look like?

Again, thanks for your commentary. Any and all comments are welcome anytime!

Best,
Jason VanLue
http://www.brandingmatters.net