The Blog as a Brand (and Brand Partner)

Hi Nick

Thanks for your request, we're flattered you'd want [our brand] on your personal site, however we can't be seen to endorse individual view-points. We are seen as the leader in exercise and wellness and the views we express need to be developed by ourselves.Thanks and we wish you all the best,
Regards

AB
National Marketing Manager - [a brand in]South Africa

NVDL: Is it really a matter of the brand endorsing the individual or the other way around? Isn't it mutual endorsement, which is to say: compatibility. I think more careful consideration should be given to the broader category, meaning, why not associate soort met soort (like with like).

In any event, why not use the above explanation to force people not to wear branded t-shirts or caps? Why? Because it is more important that the brand is endorsed, than that the brand is seen to endorse an individual. Let's face it, who is more important, the person or the product? Thus the leveraging at work - if you're sane anyway - is always in the direction of person > product/brand.

It's a mistake, in my view, to look at the details and say, wow, I wouldn't want to associate my brand with this and that detail in this or that blog. Just as people have some irritating aspects to themselves, so do brands (as much as they may imagine themselves to be perfect icons). People visiting blogs will have and will make broad associations in terms of brands and messages.

Another aspect to consider: What if the individual is actually a leader/an example, an exemplary individual etc? So in the sense of a brand based around 'fitness' or 'lifestyle' or 'health', in my case I have done an Ironman, often participate in cycling races, marathons etc. and go to gym regularly. Shouldn't this particularly brand category [fitness/health/lifestyle] aspire to have their members meet someone-with-this standard? Time will tell.