Reputation vs. Branding http://bit.ly/cnV5vA Doc Searls on why reputation is more important than branding.
Branding has jumped the shark. The meme is stale. Worn out. Post-peak. If branding were a show on Fox, it would be cancelled next week.
He goes on to make the case that what’s really important is reputation. Without reputation the words around the brand won’t stand scrutiny.
Two points there. First, it’s hard to re-phrase reputation as brand, no matter how you put it. Second, branding is not positioning. By that I mean it would be easier to make positioning statements about any of those companies than to make a branding statement.
That’s because brands are nothing but statements. At best they are a well-known and trusted badge, name or both. At worst they’re a paint job, a claim, a rationalization or an aspiration. Branding can help a reputation, but it can’t make one. Real work does that. Accomplishment over time does that.
Pretty much anything Doc Searls writes is worth a read.