Simply relying on the status quo is driven by the fear of the unknown, of lack of control. Then another question pops up inevitably: What is there to control in brand dynamics today especially in the context of a global market? What is that consistent “thing’ in a brand that requires care and is it a thing at all or more a relationship determined by the user every time?

I am not very good at frequenting the blogosphere but every now-and-then I peak and today I found your compilation. This is very helpful! It demonstrates how the latest buzz-word “brand” reveals mostly confusion. It is a good indication of how branding resists a clear-cut definition — and hence stereotyping into the next how-to immutability, very much to the chagrin of the imagologues.

I think brands are nomads migrating through minds on a quest to mark a glimpse of ever so evasive and changing identities. The challenge is to address difference but from the flip side of similarity and sameness; branding then becomes more a problem of art than “strategic” business mumbo-jumbo. Culture is the habit of marking exceptional moments in life and artifacts are the material traces of this bliss. I think brands are more and more being utilized to mark exception in an ever changing communion.

These are all feelings created over time, based on our experience with a brand. And a company can do many things to influence that experience.

But all the values, attributes, processes and experiences pretty much boil down to a feeling I have when that brand is evoked—I don’t consciously review all of that history and process (except when I have my marketing hat on). The great brands are able to codify all of that experience into one distinctive feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Cheers.

Thanks for a great post. Sean Duffy (http://www.brandranter.com)

A brand is a way to individualize products, and to productize individuals.
(credit Dan Spira)

My less elegant answer is probably in your 5th category: A brand is an emotional impression that one associates with a product, vendor, or person. I’m reminded of the word origin regarding cattle branding – that implies it is challenging to create a brand, but it is more challenging to change an impression once made.

I’m one of those who included the word “feeling” in his definition:

“A brand is an expectation of receiving a feeling by way of an experience.”

However, I never implied that companies have little influence on that expectation. To the contrary, the creation of a unique and compelling expectation, as well as the delivery of the experience that reinforces that “feeling,” is what brand creation is all about.

In addition, in my definition I am in no way referring to “emotional branding.” Puh-lease. The feeling I refer to is a “feeling of knowing;” a primarily subconscious, complex and rapid processing and evaluation of sensory input. One, by the way, that becomes fine-tuned through experience. Thus, brand strength (or not).

I hope that this has cleared up any misconception. And thanks for a great summary and analysis.

Thank you for the kind words and thoughtful analysis. We created “A Brand Is…” for precisely the reason you mentioned last: “brand” means different things to different audiences. Your post was the type of reaction we were hoping to elicit. While we have our own definition of what a brand is (“A brand is an experience living at the intersection of promise and expectation.”), we specifically chose not to create a blog post that displayed our viewpoint, but rather to create an open forum where anyone can share their opinion.

We launched this about two weeks ago. Since that time we have received a wealth of responses. We’ve enjoyed them all, from the enlightening to the indecipherable. We hope that “A Brand Is…” will continue to engage and inspire.

Laura Savard
Brand Expressionist®
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