Guest commentary Interbrand's election call for the "Brand of the Year" is merely a self-congratulatory exercise, says Thomas Otte Ever since it became clear that money could be made with the topic of "brand", there has hardly been an agency or management consultancy that has not responded to this reflexively with a strong "We can do that too". What is offered, however, is usually old, sour wine in new conceptual tubes. One such product of this Adabei technique is "Brandchannel", which claims to be an "editorially completely independent" subsidiary of Interbrand & Zintzmeyer. This platform recently called for the election of the Brand of the Year with great fanfare. The content offered on the brand channel does not allow for a clear judgment of quality. In plain language: it is a directionless palaver room where every post that happens to contain the word "brand" is already classified as a "debate". In other words, just another forum that amplifies the white noise of brand-strategic ignorance. Just as with the parent company, the "leading agency" for brand management - according to its own advertising - here, too, the hackneyed "corporate" (identity) is usually simply replaced by "brand" (identity). As if the number of heads in a company says anything about the quality of its service and content. "Self-praise stinks" is more than just a saying. Only the market can bestow the accolade of "leading". Anyone who believes they have to make such claims has to accept the question of how sure they really are of their own position.
As should be well known, a brand cannot be selected and chosen according to the principle of complete arbitrariness. What is happening here is PR fishing at the lowest level. "Give us your opinion (free of charge, of course), however tasteless and random it may be", because every contribution is welcome regardless of its relevance and origin. A few weeks later, the second PR wave follows: By the inscrutable decree of the vox populi (and an unknown jury of the brand channel), the "consternation brand" - in 2002, Al Qaeda and the Red Cross were among those mentioned - of 2003 is pulled out of the hat. This in turn is then hastily fed into the digestive tract of the agency-media industries.
As a result, the matter goes the way of all communicative intestinal winds. You cut out the press clippings, calculate the advertising value and finally warm yourself with your own scent. Qui bono? No one's benefit. Oh yes, that's right: for the benefit of the brand channel and its nurturing mother. What does this mean for good and value-creating brand management? That's it: nothing.
> Thomas Otte is the owner of Dr. Otte Brand Consulting in Pfäffikon ZH and founder of Self-Similar® Brand Management.
