Branding is one of the most overused and least understood words in marketing. In a recent conversation with branding expert David Brier, author of Brand Intervention and Rich Brand, Poor Brand, we dug into what branding really is, and why so many companies are underinvesting in it.
When David started writing Brand Intervention, there were about 6,500 books on branding. Today there are over 25,000, yet there’s still no shared definition. His answer is refreshingly simple and powerful:
Branding is the art of differentiation.
People don’t notice what blends into the noise. They notice what’s different, what surprises them, delights them, or challenges their expectations. Meeting expectations might keep customers from leaving, but it rarely creates loyalty. Exceeding expectations and engineering moments of “I didn’t see that coming” is where real brand equity gets built.
We also talked about how this plays out in the real world of search, social, and now AI-driven environments. I’ve spent decades in demand harvesting; search marketing, performance media, and now generative/answer engine optimization. The pattern is clear: when buyers see several options side by side, they gravitate toward the name they already know and trust.
That’s why performance marketing without a strong brand is often just scaling being forgettable.
David’s second book shifts the conversation inside the company: you can’t build a rich brand on a poor culture. When teams are misaligned, transactional, or siloed, even great positioning and smart media can only take you so far.
In a noisy, competitive world, the brands that win are the ones that dare to be meaningfully different, and then deliver on that difference every single day.