For decades companies have worked hard to develop a brand that they could be proud of. With the many corporate scandals and monopolisitc actions of corporations these brands have since been tarnished. Companies try valiantly to fix these brand personas, but to no avail.
People no longer trust commercials because everyone is saying the same stuff. Sure the logo is part of the brand, but other factors are beginning to play a larger role as well. For example, is the Apple logo the only aspect of the brand people recognize? What about Steve Jobs? What about Larry Ellison of Oracle? Sometimes the CEO becomes the brand.
On my personal site the brand isn’t so much in the design or in the name or in the logo. The brand is in my writings and the voices of the community. This is where the trust develops and this is what makes Whitespace a strong brand. What if you created a brand that people trusted because it was based on the voices of real people? It’s possible.