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Can “Branding” Ever Be Truly Authentic?
This is likely an act of entrepreneurial suicide, but I have to admit something: when I hear the word “brand,” or any of its permutations — building a brand, defining a brand, branding, etc — I gag. And I don’t mean this metaphorically; I mean my body reacts in a wholesale physical rejection to the entire concept.
Think about it. The most common usage before contemporary marketing got ahold of it was to refer to farmers taking a hot iron poker and searing symbols into the rumps of their chattel. Branding, ladies and gentlemen, at its finest.
What prompted this post was an encounter with a woman who, ironically, had built her career on promoting authentic branding. She gave a meh talk, threw out a few buzzwords, collected her fee and went home. Later I looked at her website and, I swear, site was describing a different person. Bright, cheerful, and energetic, it was emblazoned with self-promotion and carefully curated photos.
My strong reaction comes from what is perhaps a phenomenon I’ve noticed: people with nothing truly original, groundbreaking, or authentic to offer will cover up their deficiencies with really appealing, really shiny marketing. As far as I’m concerned, the more shiny the marketing, the less I want to have anything to do with it.
