Branding in the Social Computing Age

Take a look at why brands exist. You could argue that brands exist primarily to reassure the customer about a variety of relatively objective product parameters: quality, user experience (taste, feel, GUI), price, service, and the like. All these qualities are summed up in the shorthand we know as brand. Brands make us comfortable. They are an easy way for us to assess a product. A brand is a promise.

When I first wrote that intro back in 2001, eCommerce was a relatively new thing. Google was a couple of years old; Amazon was five, but not nearly the dominant giant it is today. Other current trends and concepts such as Web 2.0, social networking, blogging, wikis, and instant messaging were just ideas, if that.

Nine years ago, I followed that introduction with: "Imagine a day, however, when it is possible to evaluate all these product qualities instantly, objectively, and in real time. Would that not reduce our dependence on brand? And at the same time, would that not reduce the effectiveness of advertising?"

That day arrived a while ago, and brand marketers are still dealing with its aftermath. Their world is rapidly changing around them, and many still cling to a concept that is becoming less and less relevant: brand positioning.