Back to the future: a brand new model of trust?

 
Brands have been around for a very long time. 

A brick from the reign of Augustus

Bricks were branded in Rome. Brick kilns needed to earn the trust of buyers in distant markets to sell their product. The buyer had no way of evaluating the quality of the product until they’d used it, and by then it was too late. So to bridge the trust gap, each kiln stamped its unique logo on its bricks.