From Brand Strategy to Brand Anarchy

Brands, at their best, can be deeply aspirational drivers of humanity. They are optimistic creative objects, which make them among the best vehicles for human self-determination that we have, especially as other vehicles for meaning-making and impact decline in importance

Something sinister happened over the past algorithmically driven decade: brands took a sharp turn toward efficiency and benefits mindshare, often focusing on a laundry list of functional and emotional whoop-de-doos.

It’s this paint-inside-the-lines mentality that stokes irrelevancy and meaninglessness. And the whole point of a brand is to create an ... See more

Most have relied on platforms and algorithms rather than tapping into exciting cultural myth markets. In many ways, brands have lost the magic of being brands: the advantage they generate when they create outsized meaning for people.

In 2024, it’s easy to forget that iconic brands—those that win by riding cultural waves and becoming deeply associated with new cultural aspirations—must look to cultural idea markets first. A cultural idea market comes from the collective consciousness; it’s an aspiration or belief that a culture can unite around and become excited about.

The best... See more