He notes that a high-quality product acquires a reputation and the trademark then benefits by association. The visible trademark is respected for the invisible reputation. Both get cemented in the mind of the consumer. On the Internet, companies are approaching this process in reverse - brand first, reputation later. Brands as corporate assets are even more complex and ephemeral than trademarks.
Brands are reputations.
They comprise trademarks, logos, slogans, press releases, Web sites and a range of other things. They're the result of how a company speaks to its consumers, how it treats its customers, the flexibility of the interfaces in which the company and its partners interact, the value and integrity of its products, the public conduct of its executives, the quality of its workplace, its financial and market performance, and more. In short, they encompass many more factors than most branding companies can track. Any factor listed above could occupy a small army of consultants at considerable cost. But you can't control everything.