I just read an article posted at AdAge.com talking about how brands have “gone rogue.” This means that a brand has deviated from the norm or been misused. The article goes on to claim that social media is a “disruptive technology that radically changes the game.” The author also feels that the old method of branding no longer applies.

Social media has changed the way brands are managed on the internet. But this is not a nuance by any means. Blogs and forums (private social networks) have been around since nearly the beginning of the internet. In addition to that, the Web is by nature a social institution. Many companies have been incorporating sharing/social aspects for years online. Cisco, for example, has been federating content to channel reseller websites since 2006, allowing for easy sharing of marketing content, tech specs, and downloadable assets by consumers. Thus, I say that the traditional method of branding has been successful even with the advent of modern social media practices and still applies today.

In addition to that, brands have been in charge of personal relationships with customers for almost as long as marketing/advertising have been around. With things like memberships, workshops and events, and VIP rewards programs, brand managers have had direct contact (and probably more efficient) than any traditional one-way media communication outlet.

However, if you look at it from a cloud marketing technology standpoint then you can claim that the publishers have been in charge the whole time. The “technology” of direct mail and other publishing methods makes it seem that the brand is not in control; the medium is the message. Still, if you look at how brands use social media today then very few are in control. Only a limited number of brands use proprietary social networks as a method of communication. Instead, most use existing platforms such as Wordpress, Facebook, or Twitter to communicate with customers. This means that the publisher (the technology) is still in charge.

What has changed, and I believe author of the AdAge article hints at this, is that the method of content creation has become more streamlined. I do challenge the idea, though, that brand management has become more difficult. Instead it seems to me that brand management is easier. Now you can rely solely on the brand manager. Companies no longer have to worry about involving a 3rd party publisher. After all, the more a message changes hands, the more convoluted it becomes. That being said, social media is not the hammer for pounding traditional marketing into the ground.

The question, however, is still unanswered. Who is in control of the brand, the publisher/platform or the corporation?