Thomas, that was a fantastic post - factual and emotional at the same time. The difficulty that a brand has these days is to develop a visual identity that has some common meaning across diverse cultures. For example, the in the old UPS logo, in the US (or maybe W. Europe) the top part looks like a package tied with string - so it has a connotation of happiness and festivity. But in Japan, that same design may resemble an envelope for funerary condolence money - not on strategy. Maybe brands should re-think this strategy and go with more localized brand dress? CD@b