As my colleague David Zucker, a partner at Porter Novelli, points out, a strong enough product can now create a halo that casts the whole brand in a positive light -- a reversal of traditional thinking. "I think the product makes the brand," he says. "And then branding helps to borrow equity from the hot product and extend it to other products from the same brand. Toyota is hot because of Prius; other Toyota lines are now imbued with greater 'green' brand equity because of the success of the Prius product driving perception of Toyota as a green brand."

Even so, in today's challenging environment, product isn't a cure-all, and we shouldn't lose sight of the bigger picture. For starters, reconsider brand loyalty, William Charnock, co-head of strategic planning at JWT Worldwide suggests. "Big brands are being built not on a hard core of loyal customers but, rather, a large group of people who consider your brand in the top tier of their repertoire. In such an environment, it's all about size and penetration."

And look beyond the product/brand dichotomy and bear in mind that it's increasingly difficult to reach consumers with any kind of message. "The challenge in successful marketing to this kind of indifference is ascribing unique and appropriate roles to every element of the marketing mix," Ira Matathia, director of consulting at Faith Popcorn's BrainReserve, says. "For example, conventional ads are still good at creating awareness, but are not a panacea for effectiveness. Most important and most ignored is the idea that for all the discussion about 'new media,' it is culture that is, in fact, the new media. So weaving the DNA of the brand/product into the DNA of the culture is a very powerful weapon -- we call it InCulture marketing."

InCulture marketing takes into account four components:

• People: Who are the influencers?
• Press: Where do they get their information -- not the thousands of messages that create noise but the stuff that actually sticks?
• Places: Where are the physical and virtual spaces where they spend their time, and how can you create a presence there, one that is complementary and useful, rather than intrusive?
• Products: What are the tweaks and variants that can create the sense of "just for me"?

How does this apply to brand sluts?

These consumers are sophisticated shoppers who aren't impressed by spin and evaluate tangible performance when making buying decisions. It logically follows that the same goes for their media consumption: They aren't going to buy into messages sent through the traditional channels, and the question "What's in this for me?" will inform their decisions of which outlets to trust and which to ignore. Smart marketers will recognize that and craft their messages -- product-centric or not -- accordingly.

Marian Salzman is partner and CMO, Porter Novelli Worldwide.