The Naked Truth About Branding

Branding, which started as a way to distinguish products from generic alternatives now it has the exact opposite effect.

It’s been the fancy, eye-pleasing exterior that marketers have delivered but what's happened to the connection to the actual deliverable?

In other words, are too many brands all wrapping and no gift?

Ironically, today’s trendy response to the surfeit of superficial branding, is to go sans brand. Absolut has created Naked Absolute- a vodka bottle without a marking on it to “put the focus back on what’s inside” and Starbucks has built an unbranded coffee house in Seattle to bring back the authenticity of a community gathering place.

Yet I contend that people still care about content – what’s inside still matters. We still want products that work and brands we can trust, but they’re so cluttered out by gift-wrapping that we’ve been left numbed and craving authenticity.


If you agree that it's what’s inside that counts, then that’s where your employer brand should come from.


If you use your brand to build an authentic corporate culture that employees believe in, then your brand will always be grounded in your values and will always have intrinsic meaning- and you’ll have no choice but to deliver an authentic experience to consumers, shareholders, donors and alum.


For decades, companies have relied on ad agencies for their keen insights on talking to consumers, but, when it comes to branding, employees should be regarded as a significant target market- the way consumers are. They make or break the brand.


Ask BRANDEMiX how to make your employer brand more than just a pretty ribbon.