At Westergaard Advertising, we have one prediction for the New Year — brands will be bigger than ever. This may sound like a simple overstatement of the obvious but think about it. In a troubled economy you can only lead on price for so long — someone can always go lower and you cannot compete with that, especially when we don’t know where the basement is. Where you can establish an edge is in the intangible …

At the end of the day, it comes back to who your business is. Who your brand is and what kind of equity you’ve built up. In times of crisis there are two paths for your brand to save the day.

If you are in the first group,  you don’t necessarily have it made. If you are in the second group, all is not lost but you must immediately perform a branding course correction. You must take as many resources as you can muster and put them behind your brand. And I’m not merely talking about a new logo or website but rather taking every decision you make as an opportunity to build brand equity. Do customers come into your business to pick something up? How could you go that extra mile and generate buzz and a positive brand experience? Is there something you could do that would leave your customer obligated to tell all of their friends about your business

These are the kind of brand stories you need to cultivate. Even if you are in the first group with an impeccable brand, things are in flux now and you musn’t loose site of your brand’s state in the ever changing public sphere. Reach out to your customers and wrap them in your brand. Remind them why you are remarkable

In short, build your brand in the new year. Keep it at the center of your mission. Put as many dollars toward it as you can spare — think of it as an investment your business’ most crucial asset. But there’s also a lot you can do that won’t cost a dime. Talk to your team. Get their ideas on how to build bulletproof brand loyalty in 2009.  And, most of all, Happy New Year.

By now almost everyone has seen “Beware of the Doghouse” – a great viral marketing video from the jewelry store inside JC Penny’s first brought to my attention by Westerblog co-blogger Dean and colleague Larry.

This is indeed hilarious on many levels. The one aspect that I keep thinking about as a marketer though is what the pitch for this idea must have been like. We have an arguably funny premise on its own but within the specific context of driving holiday jewelry traffic to a fairly average mall anchor store, this sketch could seem like a bit of a stretch. Really an “outside of the box” idea. It only features the brand name once at the very end (if you blink you could miss it). Even the microsite the video drives traffic too is subtle (funny? yes; a traditional Penny’s merchandising site? no). To the guy or gal at the end of the table whose job it is to give something a thumbs up or down, this was risky decision.

Now in the end it paid off. BIG. The video has been shared over and over and is a runaway success. Hindsight being what it is, one cannot think of a better way to make Penny’s standout from the cluttered jewelry retail crowd. But months back, to the guy at the end of the table and the team pitching the idea, this probably had a lot of folks reaching for the Rolaids. Well played.