Understanding Your Brand

Understanding Your Brand When you hearthe namesChevy, OprahorHanna Montana you have an immediate impression.How you feel and what you think is directly related to their brand; a representation of theimage andreputation they portray.Any deviation from what we have come to know and expect can severely damage a brand. There is no better way to understandbranding than by learning from the mistakes of others. Especially those with the highest of profiles.No amount of money or expertise preventedthese obvious branding mistakes.Geoffrey James article at BNET.com, 10 Worst Brand Blunders of 2010includes the likes of GM, Dell, Toyota and Obama. In most casesthe harm done was clearly avoidable but when referring to Obamas brand, Geoffrey James writes, And it didnt help, of course, having a fair-sized chunk of the country so stupid that they were willing to believe virtually anything about Obama, so long as it was negative. But thats par for the presidential course. Brands are most often damaged by a lack of consistency or honesty. Tiger Woods will likely be the best example for many years to come. People do not like change and thats evident bythe history of branding bloopers related to changing logos. The GAPcould have learned something fromCocaCola a long time ago. Geoffrey James also provides an entertaining account of the 10 Worst Brand Blunders of 2009. Great articles on branding and he offers the ability to vote for the worst disaster. Check out the resultsin both articles. Contact Elite Resumesto speak with Martin Buckland, Certified Professional BrandingStrategist.