We all remember that confusing feeling from when we were kids: walking into a restaurant and realizing that the smiling person seated in the first booth was your second grade teacher. She was dressed differently, laughing, seemingly relaxed and 100 percent out of character.

Brands can create a similar cognitive dissonance for customers when they stray from their developed personas or strategies. Brands have a tone, voice and texture that are all part of the customer’s experience. Over time, they create the same behavioral expectations we have of our friends and can give us that same off-putting feeling when they don’t act the way we feel they should. It may not be conscious, but there’s a gut reaction that something is not right.

Join us on Thursday, July 12, as Brent Eastman, Vice President of Creative at Identity, shares his insights on:

• Making sure messaging is consistent and doesn’t go astray
• Creating a detailed business plan that lists what you will and won’t do
• Spending time understanding your brand’s perception in the market
• Having an internal brand champion

The program will take place at Identity, located at 30700 Telegraph, Suite 1475 in Bingham Farms. There is plenty of parking in front of the 30700 building when you enter the lot from Telegraph.

Registration and continental breakfast begins at 8 a.m. The one-hour program will begin at 8:30 a.m.

Cost: $15 for members; $25 for nonmembers. PRSA Detroit will be making a donation to Children’s Leukemia Foundation of Michigan from the registration funds.

Register, via PayPal, by Friday, July 6 at www.prsadetroit.org (you do not need a PayPal account to use PayPal). Space is limited so register soon. For more information, contact Nancy Skidmore at nskidmore@earthlink.net or 248.545.6499.