Public relations  Chris Malone: 'Every brand is human, and every
human is a brand'  September 25, 2013: 5:00 AM ET  Branding
consultant and author Chris Malone describes the blurry lines of
how companies interact with their customers in the 21st century.
Interview by Ryan Bradley, senior editor    FORTUNE -- You're a
consultant, and you help companies' marketing departments --
everyone from Coca-Cola (KO) to the NBA to Procter & Gamble (PG)
-- better reach their customers. What does this mean?  First,
you have to know it's not just snake oil. I majored in business
statistics. I'm a quantitative and analytical person, and I've
always been intensely curious on how and why things work. When I
was doing brand management at Coca-Cola, I became a bit
indoctrinated into the classical sales and marketing way of
things, which is very data driven. But the further I got in my
career, the more I'd dig, and at the bottom of that deep hole,
ironically, I found this warmth and competence thing. The fact
is, selling has fun