Colbert

I am not a regular viewer of the Colbert Report but after watching an episode this past Thursday, I may now be a card-carrying member of the Nation. Colbert makes me laugh in a way that very few others do (which probably says a lot more about me than Colbert.)

But one particular clip – Wheat Thins Sponsortunity – hit particularly close to home as it dealt with all the stuff that I love: brands, sponsorships, product-placement. You really have to watch the clip to fully appreciate it, but Colbert mercilessly lambasted the folks at Nabisco (as he is prone to do, and do quite well.) Why? For taking the Wheat Thins brand a little too seriously.

Now I’m the first to defend the importance of building a brand. A brand can be a critically important and valuable asset. But at the end of the day, it is only a cracker, or a sneaker, or a coffeemaker. It rarely saves lives. If it disappeared tomorrow, the human species would survive.

For those of us who have any role in the management of a brand and its role and reputation in the world, we’d be doing ourselves a service to keep this in mind.

Now I’m off the set my DVR to record every episode of Colbert it can find.