See where John Updike died yesterday. He said he wrote most often about three great secret things in human experience, sex,religion and art. He missed the fourth….branding. Although, it barely beats outs politics.

Reading ‘ Accidental Branding’ by David Vinjamuri …. sub titled, How Ordinary People Build Extraordinary Brands.  It’s an interesting read. David has really drilled down on these entrepreneurs and gives depth to the back stories. But the  title is all wrong. These are not accidental brands and the entrepreneurs are not ordinary people. These are all talented passionate people engaged in business building which inherently involves brand equity building . We find accidental  branding occurring when people miss position or over dress a sub brand or even a product option in a product line that ends up competing with, even usurping the intended brand being built. Brand signals need to be carefully granted and given correct voice volume levels.

The new year will challenge all brands no matter how strong brand loyalty is. People just won’t be able to support their normal purchasing  decisions for awhile. That means for necessary items, different brands will be considered. Brands that go along in their normal approaches to attracting and  welcoming new customers will need to pay extra attentions to the mind set of people engaged in a  brand shift situation. There will be good opportunities for productive brand building insights here.