From our comment inspired by Jim Mitchem at Obsessed with Conformity.
Like fish that can't feel water, it's hard for consumers to notice brands. But they are everywhere.
America is a brand. The Tea Party. Fox News. The Yankees. Your religion. Your family. Chris Brogan and David Armano. Hell, the very concept of "social media," really bullshit -- it's just another type of media, people -- is a "brand" with somehow special meaning.
Brands are artificial constructs we use to understand a complex world. Our environment is too nuanced for us to spend an hour judging the logical merits, pros and cons of every decision in our minds, so we resort to archetypes to quickly form, file away, and recall our opinions. Saber-toothed tiger, bad, ooga, run. Hot member of opposite sex in leopard skin, good, ooga, mate. So we rebel at "death panels" supposedly lurking in complex health bills, too long to read or understand, because someone has branded them for us.
Branding is a mental shortcut we need to survive because there is too much information to process. Branding exists because we need simple compartments to file our judgments in.
Branding will always be with us because the world is too complex to manage without it. Technology won't change it. And for those in social media who believe their fad is the new thing that makes branding obsolete, why, they're just promoting their own brand.
Image: Gradient Photo
7 comments:
Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant post.
When are you writing a book mate?
CQ
Your observation about branding in politics is a fascinating one (with regard to "death panels"). After the recent State of the Union, I saw a fair amount of commentary suggesting that Obama was speaking over people's heads -- essentially, that he should have dumbed down his speech. I wonder if advertising has contributed to the increasing public demand for rhetoric over informed discourse in politics, by conditioning us to be dependent on branding as a mental shortcut in every forum we participate in?
Great, thought-provoking post.
Love this
"Brands are artificial constructs we use to understand a complex world."
This is one of the best short posts I've read in a while.
People brand themselves too, in our consumer society. They've been conditioned!
"...I’m sure it has something to do with the fact that human brains are hardwired for semiosis. But I also think Americans so readily embrace symbols because they’re lazy. Symbols allow them to condense complex concepts into manageable chunks so that they don’t have to think about them anymore. They provide the good old American bottom line.
...
So say you’ve got some guy with a Taz tattoo, a pentacle around his neck, and a Harley sticker on his F150. Nobody would find that odd in the States. What is he doing? He’s using these symbols to externalize his self-concept. He’s decided who he is and how he wants to be seen and he doesn’t have to think about it anymore. He’s branded himself."
Interested in reading the rest?
http://pamela.poole.free.fr/frogblog/?p=170
Smart thoughts as usual Ben. Brands are more relevant now than ever before because of their role as a mental shortcuts.
In our ADD, always-on, give 110%, hyperconnected reality, anything that provides a mental shortcut is going to be attractive to people.
One small point though, is that you refer to brands as "artificial constructs." In many cases that's true (Bing, Abercrombie, John Edwards, etc.) however, when they work most effectively, brands are an organic construct of the collection of people, ideas, products and processes that comprise the whole enchelada that a brand stands for. They may be exaggerated versions of reality, but they still reflect the true nature of the beast.
Was Hunter S Thompson a brand? Absolutely. Was he still a brilliant gonzo nutjob?
Mahalo,
Alex
http://www.goodchemistry.com
Nice post. Best recalled definition that further summarizes your short post:
"A brand at its best triggers the temporary suspension of ordinary due diligence." (?)
Very interesting post. Alex, that is a good thought on brands being mental shortcuts. I dont think a brands importance will ever dissipate. Social Media can be a complicate and worthless mission without a solid brand and brand story in place. A good post was just put up on our blog about the role of brands as shortcuts for consumer decision making http://bit.ly/9QcLfG . Definitely recommend checking it out.
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