You should know

+ The Good Brand over at Fast Company take a look at "trends shaping the current branding landscape, identifying seven trends that are likely to influence the conversation for the year to come." They include these theories: "Brands will be authentic. The experience will be the expression of the brand. Brands will be hard-wired in our brains. The line between entertainment and brands will blur. Increasingly complex brands will require new organizational structures. Brands will create social and cultural values. America will be reborn as a more culturally sensitive brand." Fast Company also presents a branding challenge. "The Fast Company team has developed a list of aging brands that could use reinvention -- as well as some successful brands that could still improve further. Readers can choose to help reposition and rethink one brand -- or all of them." (hat tip to hiddden and Adland.)

+ Young people no longer believe TV ads. Have they ever? (free reg req for story)

+ Moveon.org spoofs BK's Subservient Chicken with Subservient President. And in related news, the folks at CP+B do another web site for BK- the Angus Diet, to promote their Angus burgers.