I just read Graham Button’s blog about Brands in the age of the Millennials. Its such a must-read that I thought I’d re-post it here.

He leaves us with a final note — a video with a poem by Taylor Mali animated by Ronnie Bruce. It is definitely worth watching — so check it out here or after the jump.

“Daddy, What’s a Brand?” and 9 More Awkward Questions for Uncertain Times

1. “Daddy, what’s a brand?” Chiquita, Victoria’s Secret, The GOP, Amnesty International. They all use marketing and invite trust in a distinct belief system. They’re all, to one degree or another, brands. For a brand, nirvana is when your good name is so widely endorsed that it enters the language. “Pass the Kleenex.” “Google it.” But that’s the top of a long and slippery slope–look at Toyota and Tiger Woods. A healthy brand drives up your stock, and vice versa. These are the things we thought we knew. It’s 2010–are they still true?

2. My brand isn’t working. Better send out an RFP, right? There’s this idea that advertising or design firms create brands. This is silly. “Just do it” was there in the Nike culture–Wieden + Kennedy was just the reporter that dug it up. Brands tell the truth and when they don’t they fail. Look at New Coke or Cool Britannia–people like you and me decide what Coca-Cola is or isn’t, and in the end it was Britain which re-branded Tony Blair. Recently in Colorado, people took to the streets to protest the possible end of the Frontier Airlines “tail animals”–the core of a brand our company Genesis helped to launch. It wasn’t the graphics they were defending, it was the culture they express. If your brand is under-performing, the first place to look is the mirror.

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