The marketing and advertising industries go on and on about the importance of branding. There have been more articles written on this subject than probably any other in the area of marketing. Building brands is seen by many advertising agencies, as evidenced by their websites, as their primary function and their capacity to build brands […]

The marketing and advertising industries go on and on about the importance of branding. There have been more articles written on this subject than probably any other in the area of marketing. Building brands is seen by many advertising agencies, as evidenced by their websites, as their primary function and their capacity to build brands as seen as their “exclusive intellectual property”. What’s more, I agree that brands and branding are important. Brands are important but they are not the be all and end all of marketing and communication. In discussing this issue with some colleagues the other day I was asked what brand of butter, cheese, honey and laundry detergent I purchased. Strangely enough I do purchase these things from time to time, but more importantly, I couldn’t remember any of the brands. Could you? Can you recall the brands of products you purchase in the supermarket. If you…