Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems, has written a heart-felt piece on the value of branding for a company and its customers. I very much agree with him. A brand is not just a promise, it is an expectation, it is a theme to rally behind.

The saying goes, "a brand is a promise." On a personal level, I've always felt that statement was incomplete. A promise is the lowest common denominator of a brand - it's what people expect. Think of your favorite brand, whether search engine or sneaker or coffee shop or free software, and you'll know what I mean - a brand is an expectation. If you experience anything less, you're disappointed. A promise seems like table stakes.

But a brand must go beyond a promise. To me, a brand is a cause - a guiding light. For fulfilling expectations, certainly, as well as dealing with the ill-defined and unexpected. It's what tells your employees how to act when circumstances (and customers) go awry, or well beyond a training course.

You can read the whole article here.

His analysis of branding assume more significance in light of Sun's announcement to re-brand its stock ticket to JAVA on NASDAQ.