Everything we experience in life is imprinted into our memories, and becomes a part of our subconscious mind. Some experiences are commonly held across all of humanity, as they describe common aspects of the human journey in a single idea or image, and when these common experiences are then depicted in art or literature, which has occurred thousands of times across different cultures, then these fundamental folksy ideas are called archetypes.
In a recent address at Cannes, Monica Lewinsky made a plea for brands to play a more direct role in building a compassionate society: one where the power of social media to generate shame and humiliation (and gain money by doing so) was eschewed in favor of an environment that collectively supported and inspired individuals and their actions.
At first sight, an MBA student called Philip Knight, a bee-keeper called Ingram Shavitz and a designer called Donna Faske perhaps don’t appear to be the most fascinating subjects for a branding post. But I write this week not about who these three people were, but rather what they became.
Most marketing teams operate in a “rationalist mindset,” dominated by spreadsheets, income statements, reams of market data and financial feasibility reports.
Everyone loves a good story, and the critical strength of heritage brands is that they have such stories in abundance.
