Ubiquitous branding.

We hear a lot in advertising and marketing about branding.

About how every "point of contact" must "enhance the brand."

What strikes me about all those points of contact is how many of them are in reality destructive of the brands they are allegedly enhancing.

I'm thinking, oddly enough, of things like commercials for the airline you're flying on that come on--talk about forced exposure--before you're flight.

First you're folded, spindled and mutilated, then you're charged too much, then you're crammed into a seat built for a midget pygmy and then you're forced to see a sappy spot with smiling airline employees saying how much they're glad you're here and how hard they're trying.

If how I'm being treated makes them glad, they should be placed somewhere on the Eichmann scale.  As in Adolf Eichmann.

Then there are things like sports and concert sponsorships.

This time I've paid a fortune to see entertainment that has nothing to do with telecom service or banking. Yet I'm forced the whole time to see your logo. As if you had anything to do with the performance other than shelling out money you've stolen from me so you can assault me with your butt-ugly logo.

Advertising shouldn't be that hard.

If it's not making people like you, it's probably making people hate you.

I wish clients could remember that.