how services became brands

 
I already mentioned earlier that digital brands are famously devoid of brand personality [understood in a conventional sense as a set of attributes & a brand logo that communicates them]. But somehow, the moments like the above seem to be personal enough for us to maintain a relationship with the brand - and furthermore, to strengthen it. So, apparently, personalization is not the thing that creates affective relations between a brand and its customers - rather, it's direct, designed, interaction that achieves that effect. The most famous digital brands are also mainly regarded as services or systems [google, ebay, amazon, netfix, twitter, facebook] that connect people, products, and people and products. Truth to be told, though, on the internet it is practically impossible to separate what's considered product design from the service design [websites and applications are designed for immediate, 1:1 interaction, but they also help us interact with other people & information in time]. Where's the brand then? Well, this designed system of interactions is the brand. Sure enough, conventional [offline] brands also can create systems (Nike+ being the most famous example, but today in fact, there's hardly a brand that does not care about "multiple customer touchpoints" & "moments of truth":). But what those brands do is to consistently deliver their "brand image" every time a customer interacts with the company. They don't particularly care about the customer experience itself, they more care about coherence of brand(ed) experience they deliver. Simply put, they start from company's point of view vs. customer experience point of view. On the other hand, digital brands care first & foremost about how the customer experience with the company can be positive and as a consequence strengthen the brand. So the small details as above are designed to create those positive experiences. They have power to delight & to positively surprise. The outcome is that our brand perception is really based not on the logo, but on the actual experience with the brand. No personality needed.