Making Meaning

Branding

How important a word that has been to designers, marketers and business persons alike. For years designers have been slaves to the brand. "Is this product/service properly branded?" "is this a strong brand?" "brand loyalty" "brand essence" the list goes on. However, branding's very ubiquitousness may be reducing its value to those who rely on branding power for profit. The phenomenon of the brand and it's inherent flaws were surgically analyzed by Naomi Klein in her world shaking book No Logo. On both the business and consumer end there has been growing discomfort about branding. Is it too pervasive? Is branding all there is? Are there other more efficient methods of increasing customer loyalty? Just the other day I read a post on the HOW design forum stating a need for a new trendy word to replace branding, "it's getting old" the writer stated. Designers, marketers and business persons have always understood that there is value in creating positive customer experience. Tons of reference material is available on the science of branding and many in the field delve into the subject of “experience marketing,” “experience branding,” “experience design,” “experience economy,” and “360 degree branding” but Steve Diller, Nathan Shedroff, and Darrel Rhea have quantified this concept, measured, dissected and put it through a sieve. They now present us with the essence of the the idea of customer experience and arm us with the tools needed to successfully use the concept.

Making Meaning, a book that is sure to change the business landscape in a big way. Theirs is a powerful tried and tested concept with which designers, marketers and business persons would do well to become familiar.