Asacker and the Brand Discussion

Check out Tom Asacker's posting today for an interesting brand discussion.

Here is what I posted as a comment on this:

The posting and article are certainly attracting a lot of passionate
comments.

Initially, having read the whole on a first pass, I'll side
with Chris Costello's summary. And then sleep on it.

Sometimes, the best thinking comes with the new light of day.

How do you define a brand?