Excerpted from the Chicago Tribune today (August 12, 2010)

So, Bob Killian, CEO of Chicago-based Killian Branding, what do you think? “They are absolutely a brand! They have built themselves into this post-racial, non-threatening entity. And they have done it in a way that doesn’t seem artificial. It looks authentic. It doesn’t hurt that they are talented, but they are also a success partly because, like any good brand, there isn’t a lot of spontaneity there. Remember, every brand is a promise. Plus, they look like the poster children of what America expects its future to resemble. So naturally companies are delighted to be aligned with them.”