Thursday, May 15, 2008

If it can be sold, it can be branded.

Brands were once applied only to products like a specific flour, toothpaste or automobile. It was an efficient way to build familiarity and trust with new customers in new markets. Soon services like banks, railroads and telephone companies decided to brand themselves, too.

Today a brand can be a person, event or place. A basketball star. A sexy pop singer—or her final, farewell, good-bye concert tour. A south sea island, national park, gambling casino or a great city (I H New York).

A brand can be an experience, such as white water rafting. Climbing Mount Everest. Or an idea: a new teaching method, investment formula or sales technique.

Today’s biggest brands go way beyond simple products and services: Michael Jordan. Madonna. Oprah. The Olympics. The United States of America.

I am one with my brand.
Most of us rely on—and relate to brands the way we used to relate to our neighbors and family. (McDonald’s®,
I’m lovin’ it). We don’t just buy a brand. We consume it. We become one with our Apple® iPod®, our BMW® Mini Cooper®, Nascar® sweatshirt and Starbucks® latte.

“Simply put, a brand is a promise. By identifying and authenticating a product or service it delivers a pledge of satisfaction and
Quality”

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