On branding
I think of branding not as marketing
But as framing or storytelling
As a tool
For creating meaning
Around a product, business or person
We humans live around meaning
It allows us to elevate what is,
To what it could become
Which allows us to move from reality
To aspiration
To dreaming
And emotion
It allows us to want to ally ourselves
With who or what we’d like to be
Branding is about
Designing a meaning
Designing a story
Designing the identity of a thing
The identity of a product
The identity of a business
The identity of a cause
With that, the brand becomes so much more than the thing itself
It becomes a canvas of aspirations
This is why startup pitches get investment without any project
Why products with insane markups get sold
Or what binds the fragile team of a startup together
A brand is about what is to be
About potential
Not about what actually is
And because it is aspirational
It's empowering
Because it allows a thing that isn't
to identify and focus itself
Into a product
Into a team
Or into a business
It’s that imaginative power of a brand
To bind together
That fascinates me about branding
It fascinates me
as a tool for product development
As a tool for team motivation
As a tool for entrepreneurship
It fascinates me
for its power to make people believe
And therefore to become a self-fulfilling prophecy