With all the branding woo-hoo going around, it is only a question of one it will spill over and people will grow tired of it.
And it is a valid question – Has this gone to far? Branding, that is.
More and more companies are turning towards viewing branding as a do-or-die method for seeing short-term sales generating long-term relationship. And it is!
All the signs are showing that it works. So how can some one possibly decide/believe/prove that branding is wrong?
Lucas Conley thinks that he is on to something, and even though I cannot find any proof that this whole branding-thing has gone too far, I must agree with mr. Conley that we are looking at a very perplexed situation here.
To brand things seems to work. But. Can you un-brand something. Because the second you say that you do not like branding, you actually done just that. You’ve branded yourself. You have put yourself in a category of people who do not like branding, together with Naomi Klein (among others).
Daniel Tosh (comedian) said it when he talked about people who referee to their belief as: “not being religious, but spiritual!” – His answer to this was: “Though he wasn’t honest, they sounded interesting.”
And isn’t a little bit silly fighting against this thing – branding.
The main argument to it is that companies use branding to fool people into believing that the product that the company offers, is the best there is. Or that this or that product will make you part of a certain community. Is that so bad?
Isn’t it good that we can, by buying a product, be part of a social group. If it weren’t for the things we buy we would be coloring our hair, or measuring our genders all the time – long and to the left would stand in line 2, thus forming one social community that could buy normal jeans, but needs a little extra length in the crotch area.
As one can clearly read, I’m not convinced by mr. Conley’s work, however, I am glad that some one tries to find some way to criticize branding, because nothing works better after being scrutinized and re-thought.
The book also convinced me that I, even though I tried long not to, have to read Naomi Klein’s No Logo.
Branding something isn’t bad, we as consumers have to start to face the consequences when we don’t search for the proper information on the subject. It is up to us to think for our self.
There you go, I just branded myself as a mr. Know-it-all! Awesome.