Obsessive Branding Disorder...RELOADED

The title and subject of this post has been adopted from Idle thoughts and Lucas Conley who in their respective posts about the same subject - "Obsessive branding Disorder" asks the question "What is a brand?" While I have made comment, for those of you who have not read it, I thought I'd regurgitate some of my rant here. After all, this is a blog about brand and what better way to start (or continue) a debate... Having had the opportunity to consider this question a little before my post, I have come to the conclusion that the question “what is a brand?” has too many restrictions (bought about by mindless mass advertising) to fully illustrate how I see brand. So, like many before me, I will introduce an extension to the idea of brand. On the surface, most would be excused for mistaking a company logo/name/tagline with a brand. After all, the former also embodies what Idle thoughts points to in his post as "all the information connected with a company, product or service", but the truth is, in order for a company logo/name/tagline to become what I see as a brand, it must transcend beyond what any tagline or objective the company is delivering. And hence become a “lovebrand”. While this is concept is nothing new in the marketing arena (Yes Schoffer, I know what you're thinkin!), in a billygoat world, the two terms brand and lovebrand are synonymous with each other. Brand on its own means fuck all! Like most goats, this one also consumes a hell of a lot of products, but only very few (love)brands. Take a product away from me and I will happily find a replacement. Take my “Illy” away and I will fight to get it back. Why? Because the product has delivered beyond expectation but more importantly, it told a great story and has found a way to somehow intertwine with my life so much that it infests my stories, my wife’s stories, my work, our holiday stories, my existence. The intimacy is scary once you think about it; somehow you lose the ability to logically reason its absence. This is what a brand is! Real sensual and emotional grab not empty words that ramble about its own greatness. Any brand without connection is merely a product and products can be replaced. To move a little side ways, Idle thoughts or Conley in his article makes an interesting point that organisations, products or services is what creates the brand. I can’t argue with this, but I think these days, too many organisations truly believe they actually own the brands they create. I’m not talking about some hoity toity, Fort Business type reference to ownership, but true emotional ownership, the type that lives differently within each consumer and yes they’re very different. So, to all you drab, monolith organisations with monkeys masquerading as customer service reps, get with the times and realise you don’t own the brand you created, in fact if you want continue to grow and transcend to a level where we really value you, then stop trying to fit everything you do (including “branding” your products) into some nice little "business as usual" model you learnt in your MBA program, it won’t fit fuckers! Tell us a story, let us feel make us laugh and we’ll show you’ll loyalty beyond reason.