Branded Blog

Eating berries in the sunshine, as close as I can get to a moment of perfect contentment. I attach to this tiny moment in a busy Friday at the end of a crazy week a little bit of meaning. A bit of peace. A deep out-breathe. It is, to me, a moment to be. I attach all that to this glimmering 5 minute gap eating fresh raspberries in the warm winter sunshine of our little garden in Kommetjie, while the baboons call out from the mountainside behind me and my email continues to self-propogate on the table inside

It’s all about attaching meaning, in some way. We assign meaning to things, that’s the only way they become more than what they are.

And I’ve realized recently, having redone my “Brand Basics” course for a client, that I’ve clarified my understanding of brands a little further.

Brands, my course says, are a collection of many different things which contribute to the experience and understanding and value association of that brand. And that’s true, but it’s not enough.

Brands are stories, I explain, they are the stories of our businesses told in a way that allows us to spread our reach in this global village. The problem with the global village is that it doesn’t really have a global town-hall or public square or local pub or fire-pit where we can all gather and discuss what we do and what we’re good at anymore, as our ancestors did long ago. Though, of course, there is a strong argument to be made for the interwebs as our town-hall, but that only strengthens the argument for real brands. A discussion worth returning to at some point, but for now lets get back to the “what is a brand” question.

We all know that there are many things that contribute to a “brand”, and many ways in which to try and own and protect a brand, but what the actual fabric of a brand is, is slightly more ephemeral than even I have verbalized before. It is, in practical terms, really just a veneer. A thin layer of sheen added to the surface of the product or service that it is being connected to and based on. The “brand” in it’s purest form is actually just a set of symbols. A set of words, shapes, colours and arrangements that we create in order to symbolize the heart of the offering it is representing. It is nothing more than a set of symbols which we, as brand and marketing people, then set out to imbue with meaning and value and attributes through all the things we do – through adverts and PR and websites and packaging design and experiences and media and discussions and sampling and all that other stuff. Good stuff when used well, but still just part of the process of attaching meaning to these abstract symbols representing the brand.

It’s about meaning, remember. And consumers, as we know, are much more than just receivers of meaning – they choose to become (or not) part of the process of meaning creation around our defined set of symbols. Consumers are meaning makers with us, and while we can own the trade marks, the getups, the designs, the packaging, the product IP – we can never truly own the brand. It only, as Mr Walter Landor so eloquently said, “really exists in the mind of the consumer.” Which is beyond the full control of even the biggest budgets, thankfully.

And long may it remain so because when we finally realise that we can only put out there what our story is and then it is up to our consumers to take it up or leave it lying on the table, when we really really realise that and take it to heart, it will be the ultimate self-regulation tool of all our allied industries. Because if you truly respect the consumer’s part in meaning-making and their right to choose, you can not, as a manufacturer or service provider or marketer or advertiser, ever believe that it is right or smart to attach bullshit to your symbols. Bullshit does not stick ultimately – even if it does for a while, people will sniff it out and dig it out and scrape it off their shoes eventually. You cannot serve bullshit with your symbols these days. The stink is digital and people talk. And you’re an idiot if you think anything else. Speak the truth, that’s what matters and that’s really the point of all this. Despite the abuse they have suffered, Brands are now and, I believe always should be, the simplest version of themselves: a set of symbols that help tell the story of the product they offer in clear, honest ways.

And anything else is bullshit and won’t stick.