met him. Videos of him and old-fashioned tradi- tions became paramount in keeping as much of the original Wal- Mart culture alive as possible. Neeleman finds himself in a similar position as he becomes the evangelist of the JetBlue brand within the organization, to the financial community, and to its fans. By the end of 2002, JetBlue found itself 4,000 employees strong. JetBlue has stayed true to its core strengths, not allowing image to detract from its real value in the market. As with Elton John, the total customer experience will keep JetBlue focused on delivering the right combination of functional and emotional brand attributes to see the organization through expansion with its reputa- tion intact.       Still Standing   Learning from the case of Elton John, in which he eventually became more about personality (costumes, wigs, and stage antics) than just about music, JetBlues commitment lies in a healthy combination of improving the functional aspects of its brands as well as its emotional components. At a time when branding seems to be all the rage, there are those who caution against becoming too branding oriented just for the elton j o hn : a rch i t e c t o f a br a nd |     sake of creating a name in the marketplace. Ron Frasch, CEO of Bergdorf Goodman, explains that in the world of retailing, branding will get you only so far, for so long. "For us, it still comes down to the quality of product and service that we provide to our customers, whether we use the term branding or not. The danger for some of our vendors is that if they see their brand as designer jeans and have built their primary message to consumers on that limited platform, they often dont change when the market doesnt want jeans." He hits on a problem that has permeated the marketing world in the past few years. Brand has become the go-to buzzword among marketers, advertisers, publicists, and executives to describe every- thing from advertising to the product itself. A multitude of meanings of the world float on the surface of the vast sea of marketing. In cases like the one Frasch describes, a principle rule of branding has been broken-great brands evolve both to reflect changes among people and to influence them just enough so as not to be rejected by their current fans. It is an overall marketing philosophy that has to drive the branding process; otherwise, a brand becomes nothing more than a picture of an aluminum can or a photograph of a beautiful model wearing a pair of jeans. And in an age when technology allows a lot of competitors to flood the market with similar-quality prod- ucts, everyone is looking to capture that special something that will make a connection with customers. Frasch adds, "With everyone talking about creating better brands, Ive seen a lot of sameness out there, perhaps because the messages or images seem to be more contrived rather than naturally emanating from the real creative core of the product." The evolution of Elton Johns