Brands are Alive and Well

I have read a number of articles and books in recent years suggesting that brands are dead. Don Tapscott, author of all things digital, suggested that young people do not care about brands. Even one of the people I admire most, Regis McKenna, suggested that brands were dead. Nothing can be further from the truth.

I don't really understand these arguments. The Internet has changed branding, from something owned and controlled by the company, to something co-owned and co-created with the customer, but this has not killed brands. In fact,there is evidence that brands are getting stronger. Look, for example, at Apple. The fact that people are willing to pay twice as much to get an Apple computer as a PC is ample evidence of the power of brand. Brands build perceived value and interrupt the natural tendency of markets to move to commoditization. The PC world is filled with brands battling for attention. Their brands may be eroding--the really powerful brand in the PC world is Intel, which is not the PC but which is the most powerful ingredient brand in electronics.

Same thing with the I-Phone. I talked to my students about the new Droid phone being offered by Verizon. It is supposed to be an amazing smart phone that may erode the positions of both Blackberry and I-Phone. Verizon sees it as their I-Phone offering. Most of the students were impressed with the potential of the Droid, but not willing to switch from their I-Phones. Apple has become a brand community--people feel connected to Apple--it seems to "get them". There is a true emotional connection with its customers. Powerful brand.

We can see many examples of where brands are being eroded and I can see where Tapscott and McKenna might have found evidence. AT&T long ago said that brand preference in telecom services was dying. Brands die when the value proposition no longer makes sense to consumers. If the AT&T brand was dying it meant that customers couldn't determine why they would select AT&T over Verizon or Sprint or others.

Brands are far from being dead. Where ever one finds a product or service that commands more attention than another in the same category, one can find the power of brands.