Back when I ran a marketing communications agency, David Baker was one of the few consultants who got my time of day. That's because he pretty much spoke truth — not to power, but to bullshitters.
I still get his emails, and this one, about how branding became devalued, is typical of his clear-eyed view of the industry:
Branding is what you do when you look out across your field and can't tell the cows apart--when there's a danger of mixing your cows up with the neighbor farmer's cows. You reluctantly heat up the poker, wrestle the cow to the ground against their will, and burn a big chunk of the cow's ass, permanently. Branding is the smell of burning flesh and hair, and it's not something they sell at Neiman Marcus. It's the smell of (nearly) permanent, considered choices that are based on truth and reality.
Real branding doesn't happen without pain, anguish, and a (largely) permanent decision. That's my perspective, and it's why I think much of this talk about branding is a crock--we've watered the term down and misused it to the point where it now hardly means anything.
Oh, and it applies to politics, too. Or should.
