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Branding and Design
I define branding as meaning manufacture. And I define design as the deliberate differentiation of that meaning through visual language. And I’m not saying that in a way that disparages this process. It is actually a manufactured construction. Brands don’t grow on trees. They don’t have any internal life. They don’t have a consciousness. They don’t bleed. We create them. We create a series of symbols, of beliefs, of behaviors, all embedded in this thing that we then call a brand. And so it’s manufactured for the purpose of creating consensus among a group that this specific thing actually signifies all of these other constructions we have embedded in it.
Design and branding are part of (whether we know it or not) every single thing that we do as humans, whether it’s a religion, whether it’s a sugar-free beverage, whether it’s an over-the-counter pharmaceutical, whether it’s a fast-food restaurant, whether it’s a salty snack. All of these constructions use branding in exactly the same way. It is a series of beliefs and behaviors and symbols that are all hoping to be able to communicate one very, very consistent message. The markers of success or failure in branding are really evident. It’s in how many people believe you. So if you are trying to manufacture meaning, the only success is in if people believe that meaning and if people can perpetuate that meaning. If people can participate in that meaning and build on that meaning and make it their own meaning, that is successful branding.
The Conscious Consumer
We are so oversaturated now with products and product promises that we are facing real exhaustion by that overconsumption and “overpresentation” of things to be consumed. There’s so much out there now. There’s over 100 variations of Oreo cookies. There are over 100 internationally distributed water brands. People aren’t really looking anymore for a different form or a different flavor of their favorite snack. They’re looking for a way that this brand is going to make a difference in their lives, that is going to transform how they feel, maybe in that moment or perhaps for even longer. Consumers are expecting more from the products that they buy. They want to understand and know that the things that they’re buying are coming from companies whose values and whose mission they feel are worthy of contributing to. And that’s a big sea change and something that we have really never seen before.
Communicating Your Beliefs
Because people aren’t as interested in a different form, a different flavor of their favorite snack and are much more interested in how a brand that they’re buying might make a difference in their lives or the lives of people around them, they’re looking much more critically at organizations to see what those organizations stand for, to see what they believe in, to see who they sponsor, to see what nonprofits they might contribute to. And I think a really good example of an organization that is taking some risks with communicating what they believe but doing so because of the strength of that belief is what Nike has done with Colin Kaepernick. When Nike first introduced the idea that they were supporting Colin Kaepernick, that they were putting money behind his brand, quite a lot of people were up in arms. And we saw instantly people going to social media burning their Nike sneakers because they were so angry that Nike was supporting Colin Kaepernick.
But that initial wave of displeasure was fleeting. And what we saw long-term was an actual increase in Nike’s stock price because a majority of people were actually very supportive of what Nike was doing, communicating their beliefs through the behavior of the brand by supporting Colin Kaepernick. So it is risky in that when you are communicating your beliefs through your brand, that there are inevitably going to be consumers that aren’t supportive of what you’re doing, but because consumers now want to know where you stand on a lot of sustainability issues, on a lot of diversity issues, on a lot of equity issues, they’re gonna be looking to see where companies net out on these topics. And more often than not, their decision-making is going to be impacted by the beliefs and the mission that these companies share.