The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – A Moral Message

As with any discipline, branding can be used to help people and society or it can be used in a way that hurts them.

How can branding be helpful? It can:

• Clarify or highlight a product’s or organization’s most distinctive advantage(s).
• Help attract, motivate and retain highly talented employees.
• Rally employees around and align them with the organization’s mission or vision.
• Improve an organization’s profitability, market share and market value.
• Establish a community of people with shared values.
• Serve as a self-expressive "badge" for customers.
• Make promises to or covenants with customers.
• Overlay an attractive personality on an organization or its products and services.
• Entertain customers.
• Make an organization or its products or services more likeable.
• Simplify customer choice.
• Help create healthy relationships with and the loyalty of customers.

How can a branding be used in a way that harms people or society? It can:

• Accentuate people’s fears, phobias or insecurities.
• Contribute to increased cravings or addictions.
• Sell people more stuff that they really don’t really need.
• Be the “lipstick on a pig.” That is, it can be used to dress up an inferior product or service.
• Create strong desires for products that are actually harmful to people or society.

As I think you know, branding can be a very powerful tool. I hope you will use your branding skills to benefit people and society and not to harm them.