The terms “brand” and “branding” are getting more widely applied, creating confusion among consumers, who seem less and less interested in purchasing “overpriced” branded products. Thus, the rising appeal of private-labelor store brands – which can be lower priced and are “good enough” for a busy consumer. Branded products worked well in regional malls, which were set up to “dazzle” consumers into endless shopping and impulse buying ,consumer practices that favor brand names. But with the advent of consumers armed with product information and reviews from pros and friends (and “friends”), online buying possibilities, store brand availability and the related decline in number and shrinking in size of retailers, brands face many challenges. Moreover, the proliferation of brands and the focus on branding have made it possible for everything to become a brand, which creates confusion as to value. Brand marketers have responded with…storytelling, creating narratives that often have little to do with the product but that are intended to win the brand name apositive image. Several old beliefs about brands – Brand Names Sell Products, Brand Names Attract Consumers,Brand Names Enable Product Extensions and Brand Names Provide Stability – are proving harder to realize. In all, the function of a brand name is changing; its claim of superior quality is weakening; its higher prices are being challenged; new competitors are coming from everywhere; and its once stable place in the market is becoming less tenable.