Michael is knee-deep in the conversation with Evelyn and Hugh.

I think he hits the issue on the head with this comment:

I’m still in the camp that says BRANDING HAPPENS. Period. How it happens, it seems, is the subject of this debate. In any event, I’m far from seeing a need to kill off branding just yet. Even though the term may be a bit tired.

It’s true that branding happens whether you have specialists on the job or not – every interaction, every product update, every customer service call defines your brand, positively or negatively. It seems what Hugh and Evelyn are arguing is that the act, the profession, of attempting to manage brands from some ivory tower is dead.

Yes, but not entirely. Brand managers in the traditional sense are simply being rendered obsolete. They are more “graphics managers” nowadays really, clamping down on people using improper colors, naming conventions, and so on. Nitpick police. They are increasingly disconnected from the true definition and impact of their brands, the emotional response generated by the whole of the customer’s interaction with the company. Making it look pretty and sound consistent isn’t brand management.

A new class of unofficial brand management is rising – you see evidence of it every day in decisions by companies to embrace open communication with their customers, to listen to feedback and own up to mistakes. To build products, licensing, pricing, and support models that respond to the customer’s needs, not the corporation’s wants.

The new brand managers are the line product managers, the folks who own customer service policies and practices. They are the ones who set the tone for the company’s interaction with their partners and customers through their actions. They define the brand, although most of them have probably never thought of it in those terms.

Traditional “brand management” is just window dressing on top of what really matters.