Timothy Post.com

Could you pick 10 brands which would help define who you are to someone who doesn’t know you? How about 20? What about 1,000?

How many brands do you actually use on an annual basis? Of those brands, how many do you make a conscious decision on whether to buy that brand or another?

Does it get more interesting if we open up the definition of brands to include “affiliations?” How about retaurants where you eat? All the service proviers you use. Where do you do yoga? Who cuts your hair? Which hotel would you stay at in Paris if money were no object? What kind of toothpaste do you use? Which magazines do you read? What are the Season Passes on your TiVo?

What if for each brand you could create a custom badge? Embedded within these custom badges would be lots of information- some public, some private. What if these brand badges were authorized by the brand manufacturers so that only users of the brands could use them? Would it be possible to use DRM to limit the use of Four Seasons badges to only customers of the Four Seasons preferred customer club? How about if universities provided custom badges to their graduates? Talk about jazzing-up your resume!

That Flickr ID badge has really gotten me thinking about the power of badges. Why aren’t more brands embracing this opportunity?

// 08.01.2006 at 3:36 pm // Tagged webwidgets