Branding is a funny subject—particularly for small companies. Although it’s commonly discussed, it’s still so vague that most are confused by what exactly it means. I’ll even go a step further: I think that most branding efforts are flawed from the outset because people are simply not asking the most important question.

You’ve been struggling with your marketing for years. Every time you take on a new initiative you hope for it to make a difference, but somehow you’re left back at square one. Although you have a new website or piece of collateral it hardly ever seems to make a difference. Where’s the disconnect? I suspect it’s in your story and the value you put on it.

As of late, I’ve been doing a little work in social media. I’m not particularly proud of this, but the fact is, we’ve learned a fair bit about it, and some seem to value our input. With that in mind, I’d like to take the next ten minutes to give you some reasons to forget about social media.

I (like many others it appears) gasped, upon viewing the new icon and signature for the Emily Carr University, here in Vancouver. In the past few days, the logo has been lambasted on sites like Under Consideration’s Brand New, and the nature of comments have at times eroded into being mean-spirited.

“So, do we just say ‘fuck it’ and change our name?” was the question I started the day with. Over the past year we’d watched pages of accolades and general “good stuff” about our design studio erode into comments like: “smash lab = fail”. (Actually, that was on page one of Google for some time.) Nine years in business and we were contemplating dropping our moniker. How did this happen?

I hate Telus. They are big, unresponsive extortionists. Their advertising adds insult to injury by being patronizing and insincere. I’ve spent many tens of thousands of dollars with them by now, and if they crashed, burned, and were torn into small pieces by rabid dogs I, and many others, would celebrate with a “happy dance”.

I’m going to risk alienating some of my readers today; nevertheless, I believe this to be an important discussion, worthy of a few ruffled feathers. As I write this, American auto-makers are scrambling to tap TARP funds that might keep them on life-support, and I believe their wish will be granted. I also think it’s shortsighted, disastrous and highly un-American.

I’m a bit of a fence-sitter when it comes to the Mac/PC “thing”. At home I run Macs, while at work we use PCs. (We also use iPhones.) There are things that I like about both platforms, and aspects that I dislike as well. To be completely honest, a large part of me would love to only use Apple products, due to their beauty and simplicity.

Few designers haven’t tuned-in to Design Matters, Debbie Millman’s podcast that engages the brightest design minds in discussion. She’s a partner at Sterling Brands in New York, and recently released her first book “How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer.” Today Debbie’s on the other side of the table, and it’s my great pleasure to have her here for a brief talk about her work and thoughts on branding.

All of us in design, marketing, and advertising are used to change. It’s simply a matter of fact that the way we communicate evolves. You and I, however, know that we are all in the midst of a change of epic proportions that may in-fact result in the complete re-writing of how companies and customers communicate.