Is America a brand? What about the Fourth of July? Old Navy and the like sure would like to think so. They've commercialized just about every holiday now.

Almost four months after my last post, I realize I'm a little behind. No worries, good things have happened. I have accepted a job on the east coast, and am very much looking forward to the challenge that the pharma industry has to offer.

Academically, I've continued to study marketing, but with an interesting twist. Instead of straight brand, I've branched into product development. Now, some may say they are not the same, but I would beg to differ. Okay, maybe not the same, but there are definite similarities. Through the development of a product, there needs to be an attention to the story of the product. This story makes the brand. If I can't deliver on the physical characteristics of a well-known branded product, is it really that product. For example, an iPod in a Creative Zen housing isn't really an iPod now is it? Apple knows what looks like an Apple and they stay away from the oranges.

Anyway, ramblings of the grad student will continue later.