“Branding” in the 21st Century isn’t about marketing.

It’s about reality.

And it has almost everything to do with people.

It’s about who your people are.
It’s about how they treat each other.
It’s about how they’re treated by the leadership.
It’s about how they treat your customers (every single interaction, all day long.)

We used to be able to “fake it,” right? All we needed was a great publicist and some connections to mass media. But none of that matters anymore, because in the economy of tomorrow news comes from everywhere, all sides, all the time.

If we’ve learned anything from the seemingly endless business scandals of the last decade, it should be this: what’s hidden won’t stay that way.

Because of this, the “new brand” is all about authenticity: truly doing what you say you will. It’s about integrity, honesty, and transparency.

In the new economy, brands must be grounded in reality (what they really are) AND paint a picture that people like (what they could be) in order to succeed.

//