I’ve been in the communication business for nearly 30 years, but I’ve never done any external marketing branding work — my career has focused on the corporate side of things. (Branding a benefits program for employees is hardly the same as branding a company or a product for customers!) That’s why I’m particularly interested in reading the collective wisdom of the experienced branding thought leaders who have agreed to become the Commons authors for this blog. In the meantime, I do read a few other branding blogs, and I’ve added some of my favorites to the blogroll; I’m sure the Commons branding bloggers will have their own favorites to add.

I hope readers will join in the conversation by adding their own comments to what you read here. In the meantime, it might help to kick things off to define just what we mean by “branding.” I’ve often heard it defined as the perception audiences have of an organization, product, or service — the way they react when they see a logo, for instance. In other words, the audience controls the brand, not the organization. How would you define branding?