At the same time we must understand where publishers are coming from and have patience with them. It is your job to convince the publisher that your original brand is better than the existing brand that they want to stick on your title. You'd need some convincing if you were in their shoes, too. By making our own franchises we'll ultimately make more money instead of paying a steep price for an existing brand that may or may not work. We'll also make better games.
Great games stand on their own and sell regardless of existing brands.
Second, we need to do a better job of branding ourselves as people and teams. Software did a great job of building notoriety not only because of the phenomenon that was Doom, but because of the interesting, dynamic personalities behind it. Fascinating, real people behind the games help build the brand behind the software. Finally, we need to continue to raise our standards and production values. Most consumers are better than you might think at judging good production design versus hacked-together scenes, and distinguishing talented voice acting from what your animator's sister can provide.