Who Owns a Brand?

Try something for me. Think of a company you have done business with. Think about what you bought from them, why you selected that company, what you heard and saw when you were making the decision to purchase, whether or not you will buy from them again, and how you felt days or weeks later. All of these things combined make up that company’s brand. But I ask you another question. Who owns that brand? I mean, they are YOUR thoughts.

When we think of big companies like Nike, or Coca-Cola, or Apple we think about their products, commercials, slogans, and packaging. They own those, they are all trademarked and paid for. But what we think about them, that is their brand and we own that. A company can spend a huge budget trying to get you to buy from them, but one bad experience can sour you on their brand forever.

Let’s put the shoe (or soda bottle or iPhone) on the other foot. How do we impact the Blue Mountain brand? Every company vehicle, logo, t-shirt, radio ad, special event, and Facebook post can remind customers of who we say we are. But every home built, building constructed, or furnace, air conditioner, piece of gutter, faucet, fire sprinkler, or solar panel installed can make a bigger impact on what they think of us.

So, how many marketing people does Blue Mountain have? Well to me every employee represents the company in everything we do every day. We have 600+ people working on branding the company to our customers, to each other, and to the world.