Is Branding for Cattle or Companies?

Interesting post from the Customer Evangelist. Can companies take "branding" too far?

With slavish, internal devotion to "the brand" like an infallible corporate deity, companies often cast aside the true gods: customers. Rather than hiring unbelievably helpful customer-focused employees, or improving products or services, or lowering prices, brand crack is fired up and inhaled by mass media campaigns devoted to "brand building." With brand crack now coursing now through the bloodstream, the marketing chief dedicates most energies toward feeding the addiction: company ego.

Company Ego vs Customer Focus ... great point