With the rise of internet blogs (like this) and online social networks maybe companies have decided “they’re going to review our brand anyway, let’s try and be proactive”

This approach allows the company to engage in a dialogue with their customer and get some (and I say some) feedback. The feedback could be polarised in that respondents are likely to be advocates of the brand, or anti-brand.

My final thought is that any company that thinks it is fully in control of its brand and can dictate what the customer ultimately feels is heading for a fall. The marketers’ opinion is never as important as the customers - so engage with them more I say.