Branding too is often associated with a cookie cutter approach to business and thanks to the efforts of brands such as the global burger chains it can seem to offer only faceless uniformity and hopeless mechanical repetition (albeit whilst helping to deliver huge profits).

Smoke and mirrors! At times, it can seem to be nothing more than a navel- gazing exercise that promise

Make for the high ground! For many in the industry, it is something to be viewed uneasily as it threatens to burst its banks and overwhelm everything that stands in its way. Others are out constructing canals and reservoirs. For us, branding offers something new and exciting; a fresh flow of ideas that will bring renewed direction and vigour to our business.

So, to brand or not to brand? This is just one of the questions facing Irish business owners in 2003 as we regard the landscape and consider our choices.

Any unease that we may feel in the matter is readily understood. The B-word has been bandied about a great deal during the last few years and has been blamed (most famously in Naomi Klein’s recent book No Logo) for some of the worst excesses of globalisation. It is often presented as invasive, almost colonial, in its intent, something that we are particularly sensitive to on this island. (Ironically perhaps, two of the more prolific brands sweeping hospitality in the UK – Jury’s Inns and O’Brien’s Sandwich Bars - are Irish).

Branding too is often associated with a cookie cutter approach to business and thanks to the efforts of brands such as the global burger chains it can seem to offer only faceless uniformity and hopeless mechanical repetition (albeit whilst helping to deliver huge profits).

Smoke and mirrors! At times, it can seem to be nothing more than a navel- gazing exercise that promises

Make for the high ground! For many in the industry, it is something to be viewed uneasily as it threatens to burst its banks and overwhelm everything that stands in its way. Others are out constructing canals and reservoirs. For us, branding offers something new and exciting; a fresh flow of ideas that will bring renewed direction and vigour to our business.

So, to brand or not to brand? This is just one of the questions facing Irish business owners in 2003 as we regard the landscape and consider our choices.

Any unease that we may feel in the matter is readily understood. The B-word has been bandied about a great deal during the last few years and has been blamed (most famously in Naomi Klein’s recent book No Logo) for some of the worst excesses of globalisation. It is often presented as invasive, almost colonial, in its intent, something that we are particularly sensitive to on this island. (Ironically perhaps, two of the more prolific brands sweeping hospitality in the UK – Jury’s Inns and O’Brien’s Sandwich Bars - are Irish).

Branding too is often associated with a cookie cutter approach to business and thanks to the efforts of brands such as the global burger chains it can seem to offer only faceless uniformity and hopeless mechanical repetition (albeit whilst helping to deliver huge profits).

Smoke and mirrors! At times, it can seem to be nothing more than a navel- gazing exercise that promise

So, to brand or not to brand? This is just one of the questions facing Irish business owners in 2003 as we regard the landscape and consider our choices.

Any unease that we may feel in the matter is readily understood. The B-word has been bandied about a great deal during the last few years and has been blamed (most famously in Naomi Klein’s recent book No Logo) for some of the worst excesses of globalisation. It is often presented as invasive, almost colonial, in its intent, something that we are particularly sensitive to on this island. (Ironically perhaps, two of the more prolific brands sweeping hospitality in the UK – Jury’s Inns and O’Brien’s Sandwich Bars - are Irish).

Branding too is often associated with a cookie cutter approach to business and thanks to the efforts of brands such as the global burger chains it can seem to offer only faceless uniformity and hopeless mechanical repetition (albeit whilst helping to deliver huge profits).

Smoke and mirrors! At times, it can seem to be nothing more than a navel- gazing exercise that promise

Branding too is often associated with a cookie cutter approach to business and thanks to the efforts of brands such as the global burger chains it can seem to offer only faceless uniformity and hopeless mechanical repetition (albeit whilst helping to deliver huge profits).

Smoke and mirrors! At times, it can seem to be nothing more than a navel- gazing exercise that promise

Branding too is often associated with a cookie cutter approach to business and thanks to the efforts of brands such as the global burger chains it can seem to offer only faceless uniformity and hopeless mechanical repetition (albeit whilst helping to deliver huge profits).

Smoke and mirrors! At times, it can seem to be nothing more than a navel- gazing exercise that promises much and delivers little, or at least little of any substance.

Finally, our unease probably owes a great deal to our native resistance to some of the worst excesses of marketing-speak, particularly that which has its origins on Madison Avenue. For some of us, the recent fuss about brand culture seems to provide yet more evidence of US-style marketing gone mad.

Brand As Opportunity

But branding is too valuable a tool to be dismissed out of hand. It is vital to the good management of reputation and relationships. Consider any of the great businesses – including the independents and the family-owned - and you will see a great brand at work. The great business leaders use it intuitively and unselfconsciously. Like all tools, it can be pressed into service in a variety of ways. Used properly, branding offers a business the opportunity to marshal its resources, play to its strengths and gain significant competitive advantage.

It is a tool that can be used to great effect in those areas where it is difficult to offer something truly distinctive and influence choice. We have seen how brands such as Kelly’s of Rosslare and Derry Clarke’s L’Ecrivain can offer their owners the opportunity to own a niche in a fiercely competitive market. For businesses operating in hospitality and tourism branding offers a powerful way forward.

Brand Influencing Choice

As we have seen, during these past ten years, the hospitality and tourism landscape in which hotels and restaurants operate has cha