A couple of things

First, the GM Saturn

If you take a look at the new Saturn as described in the GM corporate blog by Bob Lutz, GM Chairman, the word brand is mentioned no less than five times in a single entry at the top of the page. So what's the result of this attention to the Saturn brand? Experience!

When the new Saturn Aurora premiered in the Detroit Auto Show earlier this week, the reporter from NPR asked about what made this car different, he couldn't really describe it. He went on about how it really seemed like "they spent some money on this". Get the NPR Audio here. Ah, the intangible attractions of brand and design. Saturn probably didn't spend much more, if any more on the interior of the car, but what they did was pay attention to what made a difference to customers, and put  resources into design. This is up front cost, but good design can potentially even save you money down stream. Just think of the Ford Cherokee rollover problem if you doubt this.

 Second,

Consumer reports has a brand problem. It's not a baby-seat problem, per se, but it all started with Consumer reports playing to hard with the razor's edge. Their biggest brand asset was truth. Only truth doesn't sell as well as scandal. They've never been brought up short by bad research before, but making the readership numbers is a powerful motivator. The only thing that a research business like Consumer Reports has to trade is trust. The deadliest thing for them would be to lose the trust of their readers. Brand equals reputation.