“I also like Gmail, Giordano Natru – Dry Shirts (my daily “uniform”), Hewlett –Packard laptops, Nokia E series and Toyota phones. And I'm the only person who uses Google Chrome almost exclusively. If I use products other than these it's not necessarily the end of the world. But the happiness factor may not be so great… over time, you develop a sense of affinity with a name, product or service. And unconsciously you continue to choose the same brand or product, not so much for the name, but for the affinity." (“Are you Brand Conscious?” – J. Angelo Racoma.2009) Today brands are a great resource for organizations, while for a consumer they are a craze. Brand-conscious consumers are a goldmine for organizations, but brands haven't always been a necessity in the world; there was a time when there were unbranded products, just one or two brands and then with the explosion of branding it became fashionable. Branding has undergone tremendous changes from the time it was born until today. This essay seeks to explore the rise of branding over the years and the metamorphosis of branding. It begins with the origin of the brand and then explores various periods in history and how the brand has changed based on changing circumstances. The evolution of a brand is then described by how a brand adopts various characteristics over a period of time. Following the evolution, branding in today's era is explored. Items such as “intellectual property,” “non-profit branding,” and “online branding” that are affected by branding are examined. Finally, the future of brands and their responsibility are discussed. HISTORY: The beginning: Brand history can be tra...... center of paper ......Pine, J and Gilmore, J. ( 1999) The Experience Economy, Boston, MA . : Harvard Business School Press.Racoma, J. Are you brand conscious? racoma.net. Weblog [Online] 07/16/2009. Available at: http://racoma.net/commentary/are-you-brand-aware/. (Accessed: 10/12/2010).Slater. D and Tonkiss, F (2001) Market society: markets and modern social theory. Cambridge: Polity.Swystun, J. (2006) The Brand Glossary, Gordonsville: Palgrave Macmillan.The Economist (2003) Brands and Branding, London: Economist Books.UNICEF, (2010) UNICEF Available at: http://www .unicef ​​.org/corporate_partners/index_42735.html (Accessed: 12/27/2010) Warren, C, Facebook Marketing: IKEA's Genius Use of Photo Tagging, Mashable, Weblog [Online] 11/25/2009. Available at: http :// mashable.com/2009/11/25/facebook-marketing-ikeas-genius-use-of-photo-tagging/ (Accessed: 03/01/2011).