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We all know what a brand is, right? Real quick, before you read below—what’s your definition?

It’s a little harder to define than you think. We all have an inkling, an instinctual understanding. But actually defining it is a bit of a challenge.

Oxford Dictionary defines brand in the following manner:

A type of product manufactured by a particular company under a particular name: 'a new brand of detergent’

This seems limiting and doesn’t really reflect the power and potential of the word.

According to Wikipedia,

“A brand is a name, term, design or other feature that distinguishes one seller's product from those of others.”

This still seems to miss the mark and is way too narrow as well.

Seth Godin came up with a better, more evolved definition back in 2009:

"A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another. If the consumer (whether it’s a business, a buyer, a voter or a donor) doesn’t pay a premium, make a selection or spread the word, then no brand value exists for that consumer."

That feels a lot better. However, that was nearly six years ago. Does it still stand up?

Picture this. You’ve just polished off your last bottle of white wine. Your refrigerator takes note and places an order for you. The next day when you arrive home from work, a fresh shipment of sauvignon blanc awaits you on your doorstep.

This is the inevitable future we’re learning to expect. The Internet of Things. Smart Objects. Digital Twins. A world full of interconnected apps and devices that have the ability to make decisions for us — without us.

Need flowers for Valentine’s Day? Your phone will order your wife’s favorite lilies based on her stored preferences and your recent order history. Want to watch the new Will Ferrell movie? Your smart car will pre-order movie tickets and popcorn based on your current location, traffic, and travel speed.

No one will complain about outsourcing the mundane decisions of life. But will the end of human-driven purchasing decisions spell the end of marketing as we know it?

As Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast.”

As I’ve said many times, agency life is amazing. Agency marketers are some of the luckiest people on the planet. We get to work with great brands, help launch new products, work with exceptionally smart people, and probably party harder and have more fun than people in any other industry.

However, if you were to take a sneak peak inside the marketing brain, you’d get a glimpse at our biggest fears. And you’d probably come away thinking we’re insecure masochists. Just under our consciousness are horrible aching fears that keep us up at night and give us cold sweats.

A few weeks ago, I was at a leading marketing and advertising conference with some of the best and brightest minds in the industry. We talked about new ideas, new tools, and new strategies—all ways to become better marketers.

We also talked a lot about Millennials.

At least two or three sessions became heated discussions about the worst generation this country’s ever seen. There wasn’t just anti-Millennial sentiment. There was Millennial hate.

Agency life is thrilling. We get to work on exciting projects with amazing clients. We get to build incredible web apps and create beautiful designs. We get to be on the forefront of marketing and technology. We get to help brands tell their stories and connect with their customers. We get to push the envelope and take chances. This industry may be brutal, but for those of us with the willingness and fortitude to survive, we wouldn’t trade our careers for anything.

However, if you ask agency folks what they dislike most about their jobs, the answer is almost unanimous: bad clients.