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"I read an article by the creative director of a large international ad agency. He said his advertising is not intended to sell products. The objective is to “build brands.”
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What could possibly be a better indicator of whether a brand is being built than whether people are willing to spend their money to buy it?
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First of all, you can’t separate selling products from building brands. The idea of taking a deconstructionist view of brands— that they are somehow discrete from the products they represent—has led to the phenomenon of brands without content, the product equivalents of empty suits. We’ve heard their names, we’ve seen their ads, but we have no idea what they are, what they do, or why we should want them.
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Second, the brand babblers are wrong about how great brands are built. They think they can do it with shortcuts—with branding. So instead of a brand being an intrinsic, organic thing that evolves over time from (a) the true essence of a company and (b) carefully conceived product advertising, they have turned it into a contrivance that they tack on. It’s the Dennis Rodman school of marketing: if you don’t have a personality, get
some tattoos.
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Great brands have never been created by “branding.” Great brands have been created by excellent product advertising and patience.
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Brands need character, not tattoos.
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As soon as brand became a verb, branding became an activity. And as soon as it became an activity, it turned into an industry with lots of incompetent practitioners and 29,777 how-to books. Well, I’m here to save you a little reading and a lot of money. The idea that a strong brand can be created through branding is wrong.
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Some things can only be achieved indirectly. You can’t be happy by trying to be happy. If you want to be happy you have to go fishing, or eat a pizza, or clean out your closet.
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Sometimes, the more actively and directly you address a problem, the worse it gets. It’s the same in marketing. You want to have a strong brand? Quit branding. A strong brandis a by-product. It comes from doing a lot of other things right. For example:

1. Make sure you’re selling excellent products.
2. Make sure you’re taking good care of your customers.
3. Make sure your ads demonstrate how you are different from and better than your competitors.

That’s what builds brands, and that’s all you need to know. The rest is chitchat."

Trechos retirados de "The Ad Contrarian" e-book.