Now I know many people will not agree with this posting, but hey you can always add your comment to it!
I have a problem with the commonly abused term “Branding”.
As far as I am convinced a brand is the sum of a person’s experiences with an organization.
You can’t buy a brand, rather a brand is built over time through working with employees, customers, partners and other third parties.
It’s not about nice colors, it’s about good business practice.
Too often I have seen new CEO’s or VPs of marketing arrive
and their first port of call is the company’s “brand”. To me it’s simply re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. If your company is broken, no amount of nice design and guidelines is going to save you.
The Internet start-ups all threw millions of dollars at “building a brand” and they proved for once and for all you can’t buy it.
My advice to any company is focus on your business. I do agree that a company should have a common look and feel across locations, collaterals etc. but if your business is right your brand will follow.
Dave Jung over at B2Blog forwarded a link to a post on Fast Company’s weblog about Palm’s new “brand”. I think Kevin’s right on the money!
Murphy's Law 