4 thoughts on “Branding is not about cows; it’s about cowboys not shooting each other”

  1. I guess I’d put it another way… a Brand is the RESULT of the relationship… The cowboy recognizes the Brand of his neigbour’s ranch. The Brand represents the “image” in his mind of his experience with his neighbour.

    A Brand Strategy on the other hand are the rules that you set out that deliver an experience to support your business objectives i.e. to get the herd to market! All of this is grounded in your values, mission, vision etc. Are you honest or are you a rogue? Do you serve your team the best beans and provide safe working conditions etc? How do you deal with your customers?

  2. Good beans James. Well served.

    The opening of your comment sounds a bit chicken / egg (i.e.: which came first: the relationship or the brand?), but it boils down to the same thing. I think you’d agree with this: the brand is the symbol of a relationship. Whether the brand is strong will depend on whether the relationship is strong or not, which is where your thoughts on integrity / consistency / service brings all them little dogies home… to roost…

    Oh great, now I’m blending chicken and cow metaphors in one smelly herd!

    1. Jonathon, thanks for dropping in, and for the gentle “prod”. Your book has been sitting on my desk for more than a week in my “get around to this” pile, but after attending two book launches last week, alas, it’s a growing pile. However, having scanned the contents and a few key chapters, I’m chewing on a few thoughts that I’ll bwe able to fully digest (milk perhaps?) within a week or so.
      Not sure if you noticed that I also referred to you in my “10 Days to the Interbrand top 100”, which I’ll be blogging about again today, so it would be great to get your thoughts on that as well.

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