Beth Dunn, says she's reading Naked Conversations right now, something I haven't done for a couple of years. She makes reference to Claire, the fictitious character who blogged for Vichy, a L'Oreal Cosmetics brand. I had forgotten about old Claire, who we covered in a Chapter Called Doing it Wrong.
Beth used Claire to illustrate her views on what brands are and are not, a conversation that keeps popping coming up over here. I loved not only the clarity of her thinking, but the way she articulates. For example:
"A brand isn’t my friend (or fan) on FaceBook. A brand isn’t someone I will follow on Twitter. A brand isn’t, in short, a person. It’s an abstract idea. Same goes for a product. A car is a car. A pipe is a pipe. A cigar is, in fact, just a cigar.'
I wish I had been so articulate when I was debating with a couple of weeks back when I was debating with Jeremiah Owyang. I objected to his even asking if brands should have Twitter accounts. My simple answer is: "Of course not. The entire concept is entirely lame.
Beth does an excellent job of telling you why.
