Stefan's Branding Blog

(Meaningful) Brand Interactions

Brands have always been about meaningful interactions. Actually, that's how modern-day brands have been born. As casual market interactions that gained meaning by offering security (consistent, mass-produced quality) laced with a bit of phantasy (the "secondary", intangible and otherwise arbitrary attributes attached to them through story-telling). Brands never limited themselves to products, services, logos, slogans or ads.

We now live in a time when it's a big deal to remember this basic, half-forgotten fact. Yes, brand interactions are the future. And the present. As they have always been. Oh, and I ain't talking digital only.

Accidental Branding

I like to see the idea of branding as a fair exchange of value surfacing in various places and minds (I wasn't the first one to think of it, but I love it.) I also like a nice story--or more. That's how I found myself holding my breath while reading a book on accidents. Fortunately, those were accidents in branding, in the form of brand stories told by a good raconteur (and teacher of brand-related things, just like myself) who met the respective interesting brand founders, got them talking and did his share of research on the side.

So here's a few takeaways from Accidental Branding:

1. Empathy. "Be your own customer." Either walk in someone else's shoes and do it well, or if you can't, think of something you'd use and love yourself.
2. Focus. "Don't appeal to everyone, but get delighted, raving fans." Pleasing everyone is the safest way to kill valuable ideas, products and services of any kind.
3. Trust. You can't beat the trustability of a business owner who says: "My exit strategy is death."
4. Passion. "The clerk... seemed more interested in making sure I understood how to shave properly than he was in selling me shaving balm."
5. Familiar symbols are powerful "Once people understood that a mother who was the world's most demanding boss ran Columbia, they believed that the products could be both tough and inexpensive."
6. Creative tension. "Every good entrepreneur... feels like the wolf is just outside the door, no matter how successful his or her business."

A word of warning in the end. Two, actually:

1. Only a handful of accidents are fortunate. Failure is the rule when starting a business, everywhere in the world. Be prepared to face it, if you start up something.
2. Big brands are built and driven differently. They're less sexy than many small ones, but they dominate the market--it's in the way of nature for the mediocrity to be more prevalent. Don't get carried away by the breeze after reading this book, if you're involved with a big one. But do keep that breeze awake if you dream of starting a brand of your own--it's your only chance to succeed.

On Lovemarks

A candid confession by Saatchi & Saatchi's Kevin Roberts in a Wharton article titled It's all about getting to the future first:

"lovemarks" was born really out of desperation and fear.

Fear of irrelevance and lack of differentiation. A few lines on, it's getting a bit cynical:

the only purpose to create a "lovemark" is to charge a premium. Brands were invented to charge premiums...

The latter sentence is true. But I disagree with the former. Nowadays, one builds a brand (or 'lovemark' or call-it-what-you-will) to 'lubricate' a fair exchange of value between consenting parties. Of course there's a need for a profit, but there's definitely got to be something given in exchange--something worth that profit. Looking at both sides of the exchange is what's it all about these days in branding.

But it goes on nicely, making a few wake-up calls that are never made often enough:

The power has now switched to the consumer. The consumer is boss. And the consumer really will not be talked to or controlled. She's in control.

You can't get insight and foresight from data and from analysis.

Finally, one other statement that may sound odd to many a manager or marketer. There's truth beyond an MBA, and it implies things like

mystery, sensuality and intimacy

Nice read.