“Brand only exists in the eyes of its believers"
That's so simple and delightful how I was introduced to the world of branding.
Being a stubborn learner, I am never quite satisfied with the given answers. Therefore, I always give myself a hard time finding the answer to my endless questions.
I would love to share with you some of my realizations.
Believers?
People who consistently and persistently believe in something.
So they believe in brands?
People don't believe in brands, they believe in themselves.
Brands only carry the message people want to say to themselves and display themselves to others.
She wants to be a good mom when she uses that diaper brand.
He wants to prove his commitment to his love when he buys that diamond ring.
He doesn't want to give up on his dream when he drinks that energy drink.
Then, is the brand they believe in just an easy truth?
There are both hard truths and easy truths.
But what is easy and what is hard?
It is according to the person who realizes it.
But we may know when we face a hard truth and when we face an easy truth.
An easy truth is what we have already believed in. We fall in love with brands that believe the same. A hard truth is what we have to go through the fight within ourselves to believe in it. We fall in love with brands that share the same fight or release the tension of our inner fight.
Where do these truths come from?
They are deeply in our culture.
The cultural roots which we were born with.
And, the cultural shifts which we keep evolving.
What is “culture”?
Culture has formed and grown on countless influences - our geographical location, our weather, our land condition, our history, our politics, our leadership, our policy, our moral codes, our economic growth, our technology, our inheritance from other influential cultures, and so on.
With the complicated interconnection among all those influences, it's hard to simplify and sharply define what is “Culture".
Or, we should not try to define and classify it. We have to feel it.
It's actually so obvious that when we see it, we always feel it. And we may realize, “Oh, it's the culture ...of that nation/that race/that religion/that community/those people”.
When do we feel it is “culture”?
When a large group of people believe in the same thing. Culture is such a tremendous force that it could touch every heart deeply and move people in scale.
The question is,
What could enable brand to strategize the full force of culture...
to identify the potential customer segment?
to understand their needs and wants?
to achieve your business ambition?
to win over the constant competition and disruption?
to measure your brand value?
THE BELIEF.
Culture solidifies in Beliefs.
Beliefs hold Believers.
Believers connect Brand into their Culture.
Believers are the measurement of Brand.
Brand holds hand with Culture when they both believe in the same thing.
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