Comments on: Branding is “the difference”

By: Branding: A Product of Strategy « Brett’s Blog

Branding: A Product of Strategy « Brett’s Blog — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:47:14 +0000

[...] if branding is “the difference,” then it’s the strategy that identifies those differences and determines how to act on [...]

By: Kenneth

Kenneth — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 21:16:45 +0000

Just a short note to say I like your blog.

Good job and keep up the great work!

Kenneth

By: My 5 Favorite Posts on Brett’s Blog « Brett’s Blog

My 5 Favorite Posts on Brett’s Blog « Brett’s Blog — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 23:37:51 +0000

[...] Branding is “the difference” [...]

By: StephenG

StephenG — Wed, 02 May 2007 20:28:39 +0000

Hey,
Really nice site you got here.
I’ll come back more often and check it out.
Peace!

By: bdunc1

bdunc1 — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 19:49:58 +0000

Randy – Dallas will be fine.

By: RandyJones

RandyJones — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 18:02:40 +0000

Looks Like Dallas is in trouble!
Phoenix might end up blowing them all away.

PHX vs. Det. Hmmm..Could be interesting?

By: bdunc1

bdunc1 — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 04:58:39 +0000

Raymon – Thanks!

By: RaymonWazerri

RaymonWazerri — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 01:15:00 +0000

Hey,
I love what you’e doing!
Don’t ever change and best of luck.

Raymon W.

By: bdunc1

bdunc1 — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 18:00:00 +0000

Jonathan – really good points.

Overall, I think you are right about marketers going overboard with the thoughts and feelings, rather than actions and reactions. The worst case would be worrying more about the pantone colors of your logo than your conversion rate on your website.

But, I don’t think you can separate thoughts and feelings from the actions and reactions. What I think about Wal-Mart makes me react to it in a certain way. How they act toward me affects my thoughts and feelings, and the cycle begins.

Ultimately, as a consumer, I’m going to buy something that makes me feel better in some way. It might be logical, it might be material, it might be completely selfish. But ultimately, it makes me feel better in some way.

By: Jonathan Salem Baskin

Jonathan Salem Baskin — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 02:40:53 +0000

You raise a really important point: no two people define “brand” the same way, yet companies spend zillions of dollars on “it” without everyone necessarily agreeing on (or fully understanding) the value of the expenditure. We marketers look at brand in terms of thoughts and feelings, when the rest of the company lives in the real world of actions and reactions; it’s as if we speak two different languages. This difference became clear to me when I read your list of “Branding is what makes…” Doesn’t reality differentiate the businesses, and not the branding constructs? Wal-Mart is about to become not-so-different from Target, based on its new business strategy. Kohl’s is stocking products to chase the same customer, as is Penney. Apple is different from Microsoft not because of its branding, per se, but because it makes machines and software that are fundamentally different from the Wintel makers. Barack isn’t different from Hillary because of how he looks as much as what he says. Isn’t behavior — by businesses, and by consumers — what differentiates one brand from another? Maybe if we marketers were less concerned about the black boxes of human consciousness — or understanding them as tactics, not ultimate goals — and spent more time influencing actual behaviors, internal and external, perhaps the other depts in companies might not only better understand and embrace branding, but pitch in? Just a thought…