Much like my first book, BrandSimple, which demystified the way powerful brands get built in general, the intent of BrandDigital is to demystify what many people find unnecessarily mystifying about digital technology and its effect on brands. And, much like the Business Week article helps explain what businesses need to know about blogs and social media, BrandDigital helps explain how smart companies are using digital technology and the behavior it engenders to build brands. My intent in writing the book was to sort out which digital tools and tactics are important to organizations of every size as they go about their branding strategy and execution, and which are just smoke and mirrors. BrandDigital was written after interviewing over 100 of the most knowledgeable and insightful people in the business of branding and digital technology. I spoke with corporate executives across an incredible array of categories, with digital technology gurus, with research and analysis professionals, and with top management in communications agencies. I spoke with bloggers, with developers of virtual communities, with members of social networks, and with trend spotters and venture capitalists. I spoke with people who have been in the business of building brands for the better part of long, established careers, but for whom digital tactics pose some questions, and with people whose youth makes digital technology as natural as breathing, but for whom brand-building does not come quite as naturally. I found that it is at the intersection of time-honored branding principles and new forms of branding opportunities that great brands are built.

Watch this blog in weeks to come for my thoughts on how building brands is transforming in the digital age.

Well, as I try to keep track of my all my online identities along with all the online identities of my ‘friends’ it’s occurred to me that sooner rather than later there’s bound to be a shake out. Social networking sites are becoming commodities. There isn’t one of them that stand out as offering something that much different or better than any other. As a branding professional I can tell you that this spells trouble. The best brands are those that set themselves apart by representing something relevantly different than their category equivalents. Or, as Bob Pittman, founder of MTV and now a partner in the Pilot Group, told me during another interview, “The best brands make the stuff we already do easier, more convenient or more fun. If you can make it better for me I’ll integrate it into my life. If you can’t, I won’t.”

As interesting as these online networks might seem now, they’re going to become tiresome, as commodities do. And, as much as we’d like to think we can, we can’t really keep track of four or five separate online lives and have enough time left for an offline life. One of these sites is going to recognize this. The brand of online networking site that does, that makes it simpler to integrate the activities of maintaining our personal lives online and makes it easier, more convenient and more fun will be the one worth holding the phone for.

Second on my best branded list is John McCain. His brand driver is more akin to Coke’s classic positioning, “It’s the real thing.” As an American hero with a stellar military record and an equally stellar senatorial record, he projects himself, what he says and what he does, as the real thing, at least when it comes to presidential timber. He comes across as authentic.

This leaves Hillary Clinton stuck in the middle, sort of between Coke and Pepsi. While she has plenty of supporters and just as many claims, she hasn’t identified a simple, clear way to define her brand. This could bode problems. As all brand professionals know, it’s really hard to win from the middle. It’s hard to win when consumers can’t quite figure out what you stand for. It’s hard to win when you don’t have a simple, clear idea driving all of your branding activities, be they ads or speeches, promises or platforms. If Hillary Clinton wants to make it to the top of the best branded list, if she wants to make it to the top, she’s got to get out of the middle. It’s hard to win from the middle. Just ask Dr. Pepper.

ABC has made the wise branding choice to reinforce its relationship with viewers by directing them to ABC.com for downloads. I don’t have to think twice about how to watch ABC shows on my schedule. It’s easy, it’s smart and it’s intuitive. ABC shows - ABC.com. Search made simple. No jumping through hoops. I like that.

Building a brand is hard enough today what with so many brand choices and so many media choices. The idea is to make things easier for consumers, not more complicated. NBC is risking its well-respected brand name by having an intermediary brand host its shows. It’s created a step between me – an NBC advocate – and my interaction with its brand. This Hulu hoop doesn’t rock.

While this has always been essential to brand success, it’s never been more important than in today’s totally transparent, digitally-enabled consumer environment. If you don’t keep your promise in today’s marketplace, you’ll get found out and taken down in an instant, whether by blog, text or brand-damning digital video. Should you have any doubt at all, take a look at the video of the sleeping Comcast repairman on YouTube, complete with background music by the EELS. Each of the companies on the top ten list of Breakaway Brands have the entire organization focused on delivering the brand experience just as consumers expect it to be delivered. The brand strategy is inseparable from the business strategy and it shows both in Wall Street satisfaction and customer satisfaction.

This tragicomic episode abruptly came to mind when the person I was talking to about brands and social networks likened this online scene to a party. Before you even go to the party, he said, determine who’s going to be there. Once there, listen to what people are talking about and what’s meaningful to them. Once you’ve assessed this, if you’re going to talk, say something relevant. Your goal is not to get noticed simply for being disruptive. More important, we both agreed, was that for branding to succeed in a social network, it’s critical that the brand remain true to its persona. For instance, for a venerable financial brand to come into a 20-something online space and start behaving like a 20-something would immediately make the brand appear less than credible. If you’re a venerable financial brand, behave like one. Just make sure to offer up financial advice meaningful to a 20-something crowd. Your goal is to earn trust, not scorn. There’s no room for opacity or disingenuous behavior at online branding parties. People will sniff you out and likely snuff out your brand on their next blog or IM in an instant. Bottom line, if you’re thinking about taking a branding initiative to a social network, make sure you know who’s going to be there, what they’ve been talking about before your arrival, and how you can engage in the conversation in a way that’s meaningful to them – and to your brand. If you don’t do this, more than likely you’ll appear to be nothing more than an inexperienced ad guy trying to be something he’s not.

I thought about this the other day as I read that Kodak would be dropping its sponsorship of the Olympic Games effective at the end of next year’s summer events in Beijing. A sponsorship that began over 100 years ago with an ad printed in the program for the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens. I thought about it even more as I walked by a local photo processing store on my way to work where a “Going out of Business” sign hung in the window. This store was one of the many in its franchise, all going out of business forever. I think the changes in the photography industry should be a good wake-up call to any brand not paranoid enough to worry about staying relevantly ahead of its category curve.

Shutterbugs used to have one or two relationships with photography brands – cameras and film. There wasn’t too much competition for brand managers to worry about, especially those vying for the amateur market. Kodak was comfortably in a leadership position, doing the sorts of things that leadership brands should do, like sponsoring Olympic Games. The Kodak brand was ubiquitous. Then, in the blink of a shutter, it wasn’t. The problem is that it wasn’t paranoid, or at least didn’t become paranoid enough fast enough to transform its core business in an industry as hyper fast as technology. Today there are dozens of brands competing for attention in this category. Photographers have lots of options in brand relationships, beginning with digital cameras and going on and on and on to camera phones, digital printing a la HP and Canon, online posting brands like Flickr and Snapfish, plus a good number of products from a small brand called Apple. In a market with so many consumer choices and so much change, brand survival isn’t good enough. With a nod to Andy Grove I’d say only the paranoid succeed.

That China is building buildings is a very visible sign of its emergence as a major player in the global marketplace. More noteworthy to a brand guy like me, however, is that China is starting to emerge as a major player in the building of brands. Chinese companies are beginning to understand that only by doing so will they be able to compete on the world’s economic stage. In fact, I believe that Chinese companies have reached and are ready to jump over – way over - a brand tipping point. In just a few short years the growth of branded Chinese products and services has grown exponentially. From Lenovo to Haier appliances, companies across every category are following world-class, best-in-class branding practices in order to become the formidable competitors they want to be. Yes, international brand presence, Starbucks to BMW, is everywhere you look, a powerful economic dynamic in any language. The logos of familiar global brands dotting the city landscape are as ubiquitous as the new construction projects. However, although not quite as high a percentage as the imported names, the number of Chinese companies represented in this branded mix it is a powerful statement especially given how new the idea of brand competition is to this country. “Believe in the power of brands?” The Chinese do. And they’re beginning to build them almost as quickly as they’re building their cities. From what I’ve seen so far, the power of these brands will be monumental.

The first thing a brand must do to save its good name is to react really, really fast – jump in and quickly address the situation frankly and honestly. Now, reacting really, really fast these days is really, really hard. Given the Internet and its finger-happy bloggers, the whole world knows what’s going on within seconds of its happening. To stay ahead of the busily pointing fingers, brand organizations have to be closely connected to what’s going on in the blogosphere. Good companies have teams in place to monitor and listen to the incessant online chatter about their brands. They have contingency plans in place and people empowered to act promptly and aggressively should the need arise. Seemingly nanoseconds after news of Mattel hit Wi-Fi networks, for example, its CEO issued a statement that the company would immediately recall millions of toys from retailers’ shelves along with put into place significant new manufacturing procedures. While this will cost the brand millions of dollars near term, these instantaneous actions should help mitigate brand fallout in the long term.

The second thing a brand should do in challenging times is to do more than consumers expect it to do. In the case of J&J’s Tylenol, this meant not only an instant recall of the product but the development of new tamper-resistant bottles along with the development of tamper-resistant caplets. While the company’s share price and its share of market took an immediate plunge right after the scare, its more-than-expected actions helped it regain its number one brand position by the end of the year. It remains the top-selling analgesic in the country.

Stuff happens. There are all sorts of potentially damaging situations a consumer product brand can face in its lifetime. Whether it allows itself to be defeated by the situation depends on how quickly the brand reacts and if it does more than people expect it to. While it may be an expensive proposition, saving a strong brand name - whatever the cost - is priceless.