At a time when better, less expensive products and services are just a click or two away, conventional wisdom might be that brands are less important than they once were. That conventional wisdom is dead wrong.

Vibrant brands and not just the biggest ones like Coke, Mack Trucks, Target, and FedEx are more important than ever in this digital world. But, with great power comes great responsibility to earn customers' loyalty by engaging them in creative, non-intrusive, authentic, and subtle new ways.