No other than my beloved Wired Magazine proclaims the close demise of brands and branding in their ’The Decline of Brands’ article. Whoa! I won’t even try an autopsy on the article, the facts and figures of every research demolish it better than I could ever do it myself. And it’s not even fun – it’s a weak article, poorly written. Here, for the taste:


Utter rubbish, mixing brands with logos and making no sense at all, in a derailed train of cheap shots. What is this – controversy for the masses?

The fact is that in the last 50 years, since Lippincott and Margulies begun grasping the concepts that later, in the sixties and seventies, Wally Olins structured with such clarity – ever since then, every now and then a voice claims that brands are dead. But if you expect this voices to define the notions they are operating with – silence. Silence or the typical bullshit you’ll expect from a cowboyesque “brand is a logo” kind of knowledge.

To this, Adams & Morioka come with a great ’un-definition:’


But what’s happening to Wired? They are usually on the cutting edge of technology and the material is beautifully written. But lately they introduced o sex column in their on-line Wired News on fridays. Fine. Now pops up poorly written material, explicitly targeted at making waves. WTF means this gradual tabloidization? Are the sales plunging and some smart exec decided to jump the shark? If Gizmodo proves successful with an enjoyable Austin Powers casual-moronic style does this mean you have to try to go there, too?

Wired, hear this from one of your paying subscribers: this was one hell of a disappointment! Come to your senses! Get rid of this amateur gargle and get back on the edge.