Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits

I think when people are surprised or delighted by how a brand can change their lives by just making it a little bit better—or a little bit more fun or a little more performance-oriented—that’s when they start creating a connection with that brand.

I believe that “brand” is a stand-in, a euphemism, a shortcut for a whole bunch of expectations, worldview connections, experiences, and promises that a product or service makes,

meanings in this particular package for this particular group at this particular cultural moment.”

The cost is high, and sometimes there is a whole generation that pays for the moment of cultural change. We pay dearly if we don’t respond to culture, and we pay dearly when we don’t respond to change. But generally speaking, I think we’re more adaptable than we think.

Go back to a brand’s roots and uncover the story that you can believe in and steward forward. You steward the story forward. But steward it in a way that presents it in a modern context.

Now I think we’ve evolved, and brands now have the responsibility to enhance the communities in which they exist. By virtue of that, once a brand is in a community, it can quickly be built up or shut down.

Fundamentally, branding is a profound manifestation of the human condition. It is about belonging: belonging to a tribe, to a religion, to a family. Branding demonstrates that sense of belonging. It has this function for both the people who are part of the same group and also for the people who don’t belong.

In the past, consumers were okay with their job meaning one thing, and representing a different set of values than the values that they lived at home.

What I adore about Professor Tunstall is her ability to make seemingly esoteric issues grittily relevant to the real-world endeavor of design and branding. She segues easily from the hierarchies evident in bee society to the success of President Obama’s 2008 campaign graphics, and both fit in to her analysis of how we create meaning and structure i