Seiko Champion

I read a post the other day at Modern Marketing arguing that due to the impact of the web as a social network today, branding is dead.

Goodbye Branding (It Doesn’t Matter What You Say)

The greatest problem marketeers have these days is that no one really cares what they say. The only opinions people are interested in are those from other people…

To me the lesson is different, it’s that today you have to actually live your brand, and keep your promises. You can’t hide behind broadcast media, anybody can get TRUE feedback on your firm, your product, your services, and your people.

Branding is still very important, it can set the perception in people’s minds that “XXX is the company/product that does YYY”. From iPods to Pottery Barn to Ikea to Porsche, brands do matter. In fact with the huge increase in available options we have today, you can argue brands matter more than ever, to make you stand out from the crowd. BUT, they have to be real.

Another aspect of what we call “web 2.0″ is that it’s more likely that social feedback can be a big part of helping you create a brand, rather than it being internally generated as in the past. And if like in the linked story, you try to brand yourself as something you really are not – today that doesn’t work very well!