06. February 2005

Reverse engineering a brand

Vintage Engage - content from Engage 1.0Rob Thrasher has an interesting take on using Google to reverse-engineer a brand. Good stuff, although it’s certainly just part of any larger branding effort.

One thing that’s usually an eye-opener — particularly with smaller clients — is the concept of branding forward vs. backward:

  • Branding forward: You start with a brand that reflects back to customers things you know the they want, and then build a product around that brand.
  • Branding backward: You can start with a product, and refine from its characteristics (both existing ones any any additional ones the branding team may imbue it with) a successful brand.

Both work. Both have their uses.

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