What's Wrong With This Picture? Brand, What Brand? Edition

Guyincognito, "History will show that the Cayenne was the beginning of the end of Porsche. I give them 10 years before they are competing directly with Audi producing a full line up of vehicles virtually indistiguishable from their Auid sisters." Why is this a bad thing? As long as the heritage, quality and tradition of the 911 and Porsche motorsport remain alive in some future model, what different does it make how many other cars/trucks/4 doors/family trucksters they produce?

993C4S Branding relates to hard-wired human psychology. The tighter (simpler, more focused) a brand, the more powerful it is. Memorable. Compelling. That sort of thing. The more it tries to do/be, the weaker it becomes. IBM was mainframe computers. Then laptops. Then consulting ("solutions"). Then extinct. (Ish.) Pontiac? Buick? Yes, even Mercedes and Porsche. All these brands have lost/are losing their appeal. You can run but you can't hide from basic human nature.

Robert, I don't disagree with you, at least not completely. However, I think a "brand" or "branding" can do/be quite a bit and still be "tight". Most of what constitutes a brand, the sum of its parts if you will, are intangible. According to David Ogilvy (one of the more famous marketers of my generation), "the intangible sum of a product's attributes: its name, packaging, and price, its history, its reputation, and the way it's advertised." These are the things that define a brand. In some ways, the whole Cayenne/Panamera argument reminds me of Apple as they started to evolve from more than just a computer company for graphic designers and digital artists. In the early days, Apple had a die-hard audience and core user-group that had eyes only for the Mac. As the company/brand grew and expanded, more and more product lines were added and their audience widened beyond just this core group of "purists". This did not dilute the brand, it only served to make it stronger. I think the Cayenne has added to the Porsche brand (through it's performance characteristics and Motorsport achievements) and expanded on the good doctor's original intent for the company. "I couldn't find the [s]sports car[/s] SUV of my dreams, so I built it myself." At least 250,000 other people agree.