When I grow up, I want to be a brand cop

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23 September 2011

When I grow up, I want to be a brand cop

For a long time I've thought being a "Brand Manager" at a nonprofit would be a kind of dream job. I mean, look at what it could be like:

My revision to someone's work could be It needs to be less ... "ugh" -- and they'd have to take me seriously, and make a good-faith attempt to revise with that as their sole direction.
The numbers I'd be accountable for would be so vague (like "raising awareness") that I could essentially declare victory any time I needed to.
Any time I got tired of the same old same-old, I could throw together some focus groups and change everything.
It would be the nearest thing to the mystique and authority of being a priest, without the muss and fuss of actually being one.
Ignorance is bliss.

Posted by Jeff Brooks on 23 September 2011 at 08:11 in Branding | Permalink

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Couldn't have said it better.

But to get serious for a second, I always thought the brand was who we are rather than who we say we are.

Posted by: Ted Grigg | 23 September 2011 at 21:21

Good thoughts, i like it. Best of luck for your future. God Bless you :)

Posted by: Graphic Design Forum | 26 September 2011 at 03:58

Not a bad post, but it needs to be less "ugh".

Posted by: Jewish Jihad | 26 September 2011 at 20:49

Ted, if brand is who we are and not just who we say we are, then it would be utterly absurd to have a "brand cop" who is charged with enforcing it -- that would be the CEO's job, and everyone else's job too. That would destroy my future career!

JJ: I think the quantity of "ugh" is about within tolerance.

Posted by: Jeff Brooks | 27 September 2011 at 08:14

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Jeff Brooks, creative director at TrueSense Marketing, has been serving the nonprofit community for more than 20 years and blogging about it since 2005. He considers fundraising the most noble of pursuits and hopes you'll join him in that opinion. You can reach him at jeff.brooks [at] truesense [dot] com. More.

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