That wisdom, drawn mainly from the consumer products world, held that branding was largely equivalent to advertising, that branding was mainly a matter of connecting emotional inferences to physical products and that numerous brand managers could function autonomously within a single company. So we finish where we began. Branding is a long-term game. The best branding efforts start from the top, they involve executives from across the organization, and they are permanent. One final note.
Advertising is expensive.
But championing the brand from the top, rallying the troops, infusing consistency of message and values across the organization, and guaranteeing excellent service, relatively speaking, are not. Indeed, failure on these fronts will prove far more expensive in the end. Copyright 2000, Information Technology Services Marketing Association. All Rights Reserved.