A perfect example of this would be Coke. In blind taste tests there is no obvious favoritism, according to results published in the October 14th issue of the journal Neuron, but in taste tests where the brand is visible, Coke is preferred by 75%. Coke is a powerful icon worldwide.

The idea of brand became so powerful for a while. There was a short stretch in our history when making a product that was needed, performed well and satisfied its user was no longer the priority. In fact, belief in the strength of branding made us consider whether a quality product was even necessary. Even those of us who made a living by marketing and branding started to drink our own Kool-Aid. We no longer felt the need to actually tell the truth about the products or offerings, because the brand was the thing that people would buy. There was no need to obsess over the product; that was the old way of doing things. Now all we had to do was tell the potential buyer what to think through great branding. With enough really smart creativity, we would motivate the purchase.

The hard thing for me to admit is that it actually worked for a period of time. Most of the buyers jumped on the branding bandwagon and were genuinely influenced by the grand illusions presented by marketers.