"MY BOSS CONFESSES TO HAVING bought three sock puppets from Pets.com. He ordered one for each of his two young daughters and has the third tucked away in his attic - in its original box - waiting to be listed on eBay when the market for sock puppets spikes. That's all he ever bought from Pets.com - one reason, perhaps, why the company is no longer in business. Pets.com spent untold millions on advertising to make the sock puppet, and by extension, the company itself, a well-known brand. The puppet appeared on Good Morning America and was interviewed by People. Yet fame wasn't enough to ensure fortune.

Pets.com's demise raises the question: Does branding still matter? And if it does, how has the Web changed branding - and what do companies need to do to adapt to that change?"

AskTog Good Grips: Usability before Branding

"Good Grips kitchen tools grew out of one man's desire to build a better potato peeler for his arthritic wife. It has become one of the great marketing stories of the last decade, garnering a huge market share. Software designers can take from it two lessons: Good designs for the disabled can also benefit the normally-abled, and effective product design must come before "branding.""

The best branding starts with a good quality product that stands out from the pack. That's what Good Grips started with. That's what Yahoo started with. That's what Amazon started with. That's been the Procter & Gamble's secret for the last 120 years."

David A. Aaker Building Strong Brands

"The key step is to create a broad brand vision or identity that recognizes a brand as something greater than a set of attributes that can be imitated or surpassed. In particular, Aaker suggests that a company consider its brand not just as a product or service, but as an organization, a person and a symbol."

The brand-as-organization perspective focuses on the associations of the company's people, culture, programs and values -- such as making a priority of innovation, a quality- or customer-focus, or leadership. Such organization associations are more endearing and more resistant to imitation by competitors than are product attributes."

redux [08.14.00]
BrandYou.Com The Brand Called You

"That cross-trainer you're wearing -- one look at the distinctive swoosh on the side tells everyone who's got you branded. That coffee travel mug you're carrying -- ah, you're a Starbucks woman! Your T-shirt with the distinctive Champion "C" on the sleeve, the blue jeans with the prominent Levi's rivets, the watch with the hey-this-certifies-I-made-it icon on the face, your fountain pen with the maker's symbol crafted into the end ...

You're branded, branded, branded, branded.

It's time for me -- and you -- to take a lesson from the big brands, a lesson that's true for anyone who's interested in what it takes to stand out and prosper in the new world of work.

Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You."