As someone who worked for Procter & Gamble back in the late 1970s, I get the notion of "brand" and what that entails; what was particularly interesting to me was that a brand (e.g. Tide, Ivory, Pampers) was managed and messaged to stand on its own, with the company name and the names of other products kept separate, such that any negative connotation with a brand (say, Tide) would not bleed into the corporate identity or other brands. And, by extension, any additional uses of a brand (e.g. Tide With Bleach) would carry the same implicit relationships with the consumer.
Since the 1970s, there has been a significant increase in the discipline of marketing and brand management as it pertains to overall business management, necessitated in part by the fact that so much of what is sold nowadays is ideas and services, without a tangible product. And, as John theorizes, the BBC in trying to look "hip", chooses to use the cerebral term "brand" in order to avoid being perceived as stodgy or out-of-touch. Meanwhile, what we consider as "the BBC" is a group of different enterprises, some commercial, some public service, each with different operating goals and philosophies (and funding mechanisms). The friction between these groups was evident with the lurching attempts to carve out "BBC Sounds" so that only the domestic (public service funded) BBC could access. This was a lot easier before the days of Internet-distributed programming - there wasn't much bleed-over between Radio 4 and the World Service once you were beyond the reach of 198 kHz LW. The fact remains that most of us are not the BBC's target audience... RC On Sat, Jul 25, 2026 at 1:04 PM Mark J. Fine via Swprograms <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: "Mark J. Fine" <[email protected]> > To: Shortwave programming discussion <[email protected]> > Cc: > Bcc: > Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2026 12:54:30 -0400 > Subject: Re: [Swprograms] BBC Global Minds user survey: programs are called > "Brands" > It bothers me. Not totally for the same reasons, but for something you > touched on. > > To me, a 'brand' is a marketing term that is supposed to imply repeated > product quality and style that customers are loyal to. In the 70s I > automatically bought the latest Led Zeppelin albums, ignoring any reviews, > because I knew it was something I was going to enjoy. In today's parlance > they are (were?) a brand, but we didn't think of it that way. We just saw it > as entertainment. Today, calling them a 'brand' cheapens and implicitly > commercializes it to where it's intended to be for the record label's > benefit, not mine. > > People who post on social media also consider their posts to be their > personal 'brand'. I despise the way commercial terms like this have > infiltrated everyday society. I'm not here to arbitrarily consume content for > the benefit of some soulless financial entity. I'm also not somebody's > customer. I'm just trying to kill time, entertain, and/or educate myself. But > this is where we are, or as another band in the 70's put it: "Welcome to the > machine"... > > Mark > > On 7/25/26, 11:20 AM, "Swprograms on behalf of John Figliozzi" > <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> on behalf of > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > > > Maybe it’s just an old age mentality, but I find this effort to establish new > terminology for existing products annoying and just unnecessarily stylistic. > In an age when an organization like the BBC is pressed for revenue, it seems > a waste of time and resources to engineer a whole new way of looking at what > are essentially the same things. Maybe they think it makes them more > attractive to younger eyes and ears (yeah, this is probably it), but I really > doubt that’s true. Most of the surveys I read indicate that trying to attract > younger people to traditional media ends up a loser and that many of them > eventually embrace the stuff that the BBC et al are trying to sell as they > mature and get older with more experience. I can’t help but perceive the > chase for advertising dollars as the culprit here which only ends up > confusing "public service” with the pursuit of a mass audience. They are two > separate things that require separate sources of revenue if their unique > missions are to be preserved, but try explaining that to the younger > executives running these organizations today. Most of the people the BBC or > NPR are hiring come from the commercial side and fail to recognize the subtle > but real difference. ABC (Australia) Radio National seems to still get it, > however. > > > John Figliozzi > > > > On Jul 25, 2026, at 6:32 AM, Rob de Santos <[email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > > > > I noticed the same thing. Initially, I thought it was confusing. I suppose, > > using the same logic, book and song titles are now "brands". > > > > --Rob de Santos > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Swprograms <[email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]>> On Behalf Of Richard > > Cuff > > Sent: Friday, July 24, 2026 4:32 PM > > To: Internet radio discussion <[email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]>>; Shortwave > > programming discussion <[email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]>> > > Subject: [Swprograms] BBC Global Minds user survey: programs are called > > "Brands" > > > > Interesting terminology -- I just went through a survey in the BBC Global > > Minds community regarding my awareness of various BBC programs offered on > > the World Service, Radio 4, and BBC World News. > > > > What I would call "programs" they called "brands". > > > > Welcome to the 21st century, I guess... > > > > Richard Cuff > > _______________________________________________ > > Swprograms mailing list > > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swprograms > > <http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swprograms> > > > > To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to > > [email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]>?subject=unsubscribe, or visit > > the URL > > shown above. > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Swprograms mailing list > > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swprograms > > <http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swprograms> > > > > To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to [email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]>?subject=unsubscribe, or visit > > the URL shown above. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Swprograms mailing list > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swprograms > <http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swprograms> > > > To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>?subject=unsubscribe, or visit > the URL shown above. > > > > > > > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: "Mark J. Fine via Swprograms" <[email protected]> > To: Shortwave programming discussion <[email protected]> > Cc: "Mark J. Fine" <[email protected]> > Bcc: > Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2026 12:54:30 -0400 > Subject: Re: [Swprograms] BBC Global Minds user survey: programs are called > "Brands" > _______________________________________________ > Swprograms mailing list > [email protected] > http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swprograms > > To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to > [email protected]?subject=unsubscribe, or visit the URL > shown above. > _______________________________________________ Swprograms mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swprograms To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to [email protected]?subject=unsubscribe, or visit the URL shown above.
