[Ankesh]

Thanks Dien for talking about Branding.

I have a bit of a different out look on things.

1. Apple's Think Different campaign is mis-attributed. It is not a branding success story. Its a PR success story. They received a lot of free press because they did something different. It was similar to Apple's 1984 ad - that ran just once. The main purpose was to create a buzz - not to build a brand.

Similar to godaddy's first super bowl ad.

Or to the stunts Richard Branson performs. Its not to build a brand - but to build buzz. Do something so different that people have to talk about you.

2. Lets define branding. A brand is something that does your customers thinking for them. Its a trust mechanism that enables automatic decision making. Want to buy the safest car? You can opt for Volvo without reading 40 pages on car safety.

Brand building requires time. You can shorten the time by wowing people. But you can never build a brand with a first impression. Repetition is required. People need to see a track record before they can trust you.

As Roy H. Williams says: branding = impact * repetition. If your impact is greater, then you have to repeat your message fewer times to seep into peoples brains. If your impact is low, then you have to constantly repeat your message. That is why consumer products like Axe and Tide and Pepsi have to constantly repeat ads - their product and delivery lacks impact - they are not different that other alternatives in the market.

Apple didn't build a brand because of their ads. They built a brand by constantly providing products with better design and interface than others.

3. Personal branding.

i. Determine what you won't do. Let people know what you stand for.

ii. Determine how you will wow people. What will you do to go beyond their expectations.

iii. Create a mailing list so that you can constantly stay in touch with your folks and repeat your message.