First of all, what is a brand? It is not the logo, slogan, or campaign. A brand exists in the mind of the audience, shaped by everything you do. The strongest brands don’t tell people what they are; they make people feel something. This emotional connection is what creates loyalty, trust, and advocacy.
A brand is not something you create, but something that is created by everyone who experiences your business. We have an intuitive sense for this when it comes to humans, where we don’t just accept someone’s word for being true when they describe themselves, especially not if they boast about their greatness. Instead we consciously and subconsciously evaluate everything they do, how they appear, and gradually refine our image of them. The audiences personalities, previous experiences, and culture also contribute to this image.
It used to be that you had a reasonable degree of control over how people perceived you. There was the product, the personal interactions, a few big media outlets, and a small number of very powerful advertising channels. With this amount of control we could create rigid frameworks and elaborate strategies. Our brand platforms only needed to be understood by the marketing department who could then produce massive campaigns with precision and control.
This reality has changed radically. You now have a huge number of touch-points, most of them small, some of them large, and a few potentially huge. The problem is that you don’t always know which is which, and one small mishap could very well become a massively viral for better or worse.
The solution to this is honesty (lowercase h, no pun intended). Become the business or person you want your brand to be. Let go of that elaborate brand platform and replace it with a philosophy that you believe in wholeheartedly. If you live by this philosophy you, and everybody else in your organization, can now always answer honestly whatever people ask the business. No NDAs or gag orders needed. If you compare it to parenting, the old way of building brands was to have rigid rules and strict enforcement, while the new way is to have no rules and strong values so that the kids learn to think for themselves (aka “Just Enough Parenting™️”).
If you want one short rule for how to apply this, here it is:
Tell people what you do. Show people who you are.
First of all, what is a brand? It is not the logo, slogan, or campaign. A brand exists in the mind of the audience, shaped by everything you do. The strongest brands don’t tell people what they are; they make people feel something. This emotional connection is what creates loyalty, trust, and advocacy.
A brand is not something you create, but something that is created by everyone who experiences your business. We have an intuitive sense for this when it comes to humans, where we don’t just accept someone’s word for being true when they describe themselves, especially not if they boast about their greatness. Instead we consciously and subconsciously evaluate everything they do, how they appear, and gradually refine our image of them. The audiences personalities, previous experiences, and culture also contribute to this image.
It used to be that you had a reasonable degree of control over how people perceived you. There was the product, the personal interactions, a few big media outlets, and a small number of very powerful advertising channels. With this amount of control we could create rigid frameworks and elaborate strategies. Our brand platforms only needed to be understood by the marketing department who could then produce massive campaigns with precision and control.
This reality has changed radically. You now have a huge number of touch-points, most of them small, some of them large, and a few potentially huge. The problem is that you don’t always know which is which, and one small mishap could very well become a massively viral for better or worse.
The solution to this is honesty (lowercase h, no pun intended). Become the business or person you want your brand to be. Let go of that elaborate brand platform and replace it with a philosophy that you believe in wholeheartedly. If you live by this philosophy you, and everybody else in your organization, can now always answer honestly whatever people ask the business. No NDAs or gag orders needed. If you compare it to parenting, the old way of building brands was to have rigid rules and strict enforcement, while the new way is to have no rules and strong values so that the kids learn to think for themselves (aka “Just Enough Parenting™️”).
If you want one short rule for how to apply this, here it is:
Tell people what you do. Show people who you are.
First of all, what is a brand? It is not the logo, slogan, or campaign. A brand exists in the mind of the audience, shaped by everything you do. The strongest brands don’t tell people what they are; they make people feel something. This emotional connection is what creates loyalty, trust, and advocacy.
A brand is not something you create, but something that is created by everyone who experiences your business. We have an intuitive sense for this when it comes to humans, where we don’t just accept someone’s word for being true when they describe themselves, especially not if they boast about their greatness. Instead we consciously and subconsciously evaluate everything they do, how they appear, and gradually refine our image of them. The audiences personalities, previous experiences, and culture also contribute to this image.
It used to be that you had a reasonable degree of control over how people perceived you. There was the product, the personal interactions, a few big media outlets, and a small number of very powerful advertising channels. With this amount of control we could create rigid frameworks and elaborate strategies. Our brand platforms only needed to be understood by the marketing department who could then produce massive campaigns with precision and control.
This reality has changed radically. You now have a huge number of touch-points, most of them small, some of them large, and a few potentially huge. The problem is that you don’t always know which is which, and one small mishap could very well become a massively viral for better or worse.
The solution to this is honesty (lowercase h, no pun intended). Become the business or person you want your brand to be. Let go of that elaborate brand platform and replace it with a philosophy that you believe in wholeheartedly. If you live by this philosophy you, and everybody else in your organization, can now always answer honestly whatever people ask the business. No NDAs or gag orders needed. If you compare it to parenting, the old way of building brands was to have rigid rules and strict enforcement, while the new way is to have no rules and strong values so that the kids learn to think for themselves (aka “Just Enough Parenting™️”).
If you want one short rule for how to apply this, here it is:
Tell people what you do. Show people who you are.
First of all, what is a brand? It is not the logo, slogan, or campaign. A brand exists in the mind of the audience, shaped by everything you do. The strongest brands don’t tell people what they are; they make people feel something. This emotional connection is what creates loyalty, trust, and advocacy.
A brand is not something you create, but something that is created by everyone who experiences your business. We have an intuitive sense for this when it comes to humans, where we don’t just accept someone’s word for being true when they describe themselves, especially not if they boast about their greatness. Instead we consciously and subconsciously evaluate everything they do, how they appear, and gradually refine our image of them. The audiences personalities, previous experiences, and culture also contribute to this image.
It used to be that you had a reasonable degree of control over how people perceived you. There was the product, the personal interactions, a few big media outlets, and a small number of very powerful advertising channels. With this amount of control we could create rigid frameworks and elaborate strategies. Our brand platforms only needed to be understood by the marketing department who could then produce massive campaigns with precision and control.
This reality has changed radically. You now have a huge number of touch-points, most of them small, some of them large, and a few potentially huge. The problem is that you don’t always know which is which, and one small mishap could very well become a massively viral for better or worse.
The solution to this is honesty (lowercase h, no pun intended). Become the business or person you want your brand to be. Let go of that elaborate brand platform and replace it with a philosophy that you believe in wholeheartedly. If you live by this philosophy you, and everybody else in your organization, can now always answer honestly whatever people ask the business. No NDAs or gag orders needed. If you compare it to parenting, the old way of building brands was to have rigid rules and strict enforcement, while the new way is to have no rules and strong values so that the kids learn to think for themselves (aka “Just Enough Parenting™️”).
If you want one short rule for how to apply this, here it is:
Tell people what you do. Show people who you are.
