I'm a What?

January 19, 2011 | Comments (0) | Share

Last week I found out that I’m no longer a Pisces. Apparently, I’m an Aquarius - and I’m not too happy about it. No offense to all of you water carriers out there, but I’ve beena fish all my life, and I intend to stay one. Can anyone out there even pronounce Ophiuchus?

I don’t define myself by my zodiac sign, but it has definitely become a part of who I am. Over the years, I’ve come to realize that I actually possess the traits of a Pisces: imaginative, sensitive, compassionate, unworldly, intuitive and sympathetic. 

Now, just because some guy is telling me that Ophiuchus is in the house and I’ve been bumped onto the Aquarius team, I’m not going to become independent, intellectual, unemotional and detached. Or will I?

Can changing a label change characteristics and behaviors? Does the fact that Belk has a “new brand” (hip and Southern) mean that it will actually become hip? As far as I can tell, Belk is still the place that my grandmother goes to find her knit suits.

Brand goes a long way beyond changing a logo and airing ‘cool’ TV ads. Brand begins from within – from the logo, to the merchandise in the store, to the attitude of each employee. You can’t slap a new label on something and change its soul.

I’ll quote Shakespeare, who was apparently the brand expert of the 1500’s: 

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

Who are you?