[...]The Great Madison Avenue Branding Rip-Off – bly.com blog – bly.com direct marketing blog[...]…

Today branding is a fashion word used on everything to position the service as a strategic service. But I think we have to look at the definiton of the word, and this is not so easy for me, since I am a Norwegian, but what the heck, I give it a try…(so I hope you excuse my bad english and try to look for the answer. Definiton; what is branding? (according to the webster dictionary)

Branding
Noun 1. The act of stigmatizing.

Domain Definitions:
Food & Agriculture: The imprinting of a distinctive mark on the skin of an animal with a hot iron for purposes of identification

Branding=Identification and of cause that’s important in selling, but fare from the whole prosess.
So yes, Branding is A Madison Avenue Rip-Off (But I think it’s done with the best intentiones, it’s just because they dont know better) This is also a reason why all kinds of stuff is beeng put in under the branding umbrella… The definiton of brandig is way out of control…. Internal branding, image brand advertising, brand stamp, brand loyalty, branded customer service, Brand identity, etc. Why not just call it service and loyalty, idetity, etc. Insted of the branding word in front?… its because the branding description is giving it a strategic positioning. I don’t know why, but I can’t tink of another reason… I think this is also a debate where the creative forces fight for their own position. Suddely branding is become almost synonymus with the whole marketing prosess??? And on top of that you have the creative, entertainment debate of advertising VS… ad’s that do the job and sell the stuff…) Then some thinks that the image and the brand (Company or product identity) is more important than the sales results. And that is of course BS to…

I enjoy the debate, but I think we have very different definitions of branding and views on how it’s used.

“Friendly, helpful, and informative service are expected of businesses by society.”

True, but they’re often not delivered. A business that doesn’t consistently provide this ends up with a tarnished brand. In fact, as Tom Asacker points out above, those “expectations” are exactly what a brand is.

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Yes, I got off-topic here. I drifted outside the context of advertising (as the discussion had already done). Maybe I did so because I feel like advertising has only so much to do with a business’ brand.

But, I think we both agree that very little advertising should be committed to purely branding. I would say it should be committed mostly to (branded) calls to action. Too many ads leave the viewer asking, “OK. But what’s next?”

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Personal brands are poppycock? Wow. I must be full of it.

Best,

DUST!N

And please remember that we’re talking about branding and communication in the context of advertising.

-Matt

Apology accepted.

No, it’s not a moot point. Why would I separate the two? To provide insight into the fundamentals of business and communications.

Communication IS NOT BRANDED NO MATTER WHAT. When I share an experience or knowledge with a friend than that is DEFINITELY NOT BRANDED.

I think personal brands are poppycock. I bet Bob Bly would agree with me. I doubt he’d call himself a brand. I wouldn’t call myself a brand either. We’re people – not brands.

As for the Starbucks example, I’d say that’s just plain bad business.

Friendly, helpful, and informative service are expected of businesses by society. That is not a differentiator of a brand.

No, comparing branding to communicating with customers is not like comparing a t-shirt to red.

Good luck with your endeavors,
Matt

Secondly,
Yes, if you were to separate the two (in order to compare them) then communication with customers would be more important. Moot point in my opinion. Why would you separate the two?

Communication IS branded NO MATTER WHAT.

My previous comment is a good example. My personal brand would be centered around inspiration. Encouragement. Provoking. Motivational. But by leading with “Uhm…” I gave myself very little chance of being inspirational. Little hope of being persuasive in any form. That falls outside of my intended brand. Yet, it’s still branded.

Same for Starbucks (chosen for its ubiquity and strong brand). If a barista were to tell a customer, “Whaddya want!?! I’m in a hurry and got no time for your stalling.” to a customer who was pondering an order… that would fall outside of Starbucks’ brand.

So, which was more important? The branding (friendly, helpful, informative service) or communicating with the customer?

Comparing branding to communicating with customers? It’s kind of like comparing a t-shirt to red. It’s a red t-shirt… let it be. That’s my point.

Hope I communicated it more effectively this time.