[art_wells]

Once you begin focusing on brand, you are embracing the path of a commodity--it's a defensive posture that subtracts from quality and identity.

Anyone can buy branding and in among commodities, that is the only hope. Identity and quality, however, must be built in.

[jon_dahl]

How is brand different from identity? And if you have a quality product, isn't it your brand that communicates this to your customers?

[art_wells]

"Branding" is a focus on perception, on advertising and promotion. "Identity" is a focus on developing your core values. The touchstone is whether or not what a company projects is decided by marketing strategy in isolation or by business development as a whole. Ideally, these are one in the same, but they rarely actually are coincidental.