CAROLINE. Have you ever heard the name? A freelance advertising student. (Still no clues). It was Caroline who designed Nike's SWOOSH logo for $35 in 1971. (Today you'll have to pay a little more to buy the swoosh on a pair of regular Nike sneakers.) Time heralds change, and change demands that the old is replaced by the new. Business is no different; has seen a fair amount of evolution. Once upon a time, research was about everything tangible. Cash, property, machinery, inventory, investments were the means to define the strength of a company. Today, wealth lies in the intangible. Companies spend millions to maintain their priceless reputations, patents and, most importantly, their irreplaceable BRANDS. You've just seen Nike's humble beginnings; now let's take a look at the Nike we're most familiar with. Today the value of the Nike brand alone exceeds 10 million dollars and undoubtedly its greatest asset is its logo. It has been scientifically proven that the swoosh is much more than just a feel-good factor, it has the ability to light up your brain! (If Caroline had known all this, she would have asked for more than the anonymity she ultimately got.) How many of us are aware of the people behind successful companies? While how many of us can't identify the big brands that make these companies important? The answers to these two questions subtly state: Brands have become such a major economic force in the global economy that they have become more important than the very companies that support them. They have become the means of providing market value, shareholder wealth, livelihood, prosperity and culture. Do you think I'm overestimating them? Read on.WOULD LIKE a woman walking into a Louis Vui......middle of paper......the illusion of eternal happiness.I took you to the edge and showed you everything I could see. At this point I would almost seem like a supporter of some great movement against the world of marketing. On the contrary, all I have tried to do is present facts and if I have the luxury of expressing opinions, I personally believe that marketing is a highly creative process with almost unlimited potential for innovation. But then, when we do something, we are always presented with a choice. We can do the job the way it needs to be done properly or the way we want it done. The decision made is almost always obvious and yet I don't lose hope because I sincerely believe in Newton's third law of motion, which states that no matter how elusive the truth (consequence) may seem, it never disappoints. “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”