You might want to check out Jonathan Baskin’s manifesto on 10 Rules for Branding in Post Branded World. It focuses on shifting thinking away old school brand marketing concepts to some new realities. 
It speaks well to several of the concepts that we regularly evangeize when speaking about marketing with customer references. First, buyers today are exposed to such an overwhelming quantity of marketing messages that they’ve largely learned to tune them all out as noise, reducing your ability to actually reach your audience. Second, buyers have become increasingly skeptical about marketing claims, completely discounting the definition of your brand that your marketing department attempts to craft. Third, new resources and access to information makes it impossible for branding to obscure the actual experience of your customers.
Given these realities, investment in traditional marketing mix should be carefully questioned. Leveraging your satisfied customers and using mediums that amplify their positive experiences overcomes many of the challenges in these new realities, creating an increased rationale for focusing on customer reference programs as a significant foundation for your marketing strategy.
