The Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz wasn’t originally designed with a heart because he’s, well, a machine. Yet it was the heart he wanted and inevitably needed. Are brands in a similar position?
Everyone knows what a brand is, and few consumers do not have a few favorite brands for which they will pay a premium price or exert extraordinary effort to obtain. Consumers routinely talk about “loving” a brand or feeling incomplete without a specific brand. Such comments reflect more than just familiarity or loyalty; they suggest a deep emotional attachment. Despite such common experiences, the process of creating a strong brand remains mysterious and the value...
Imagine for a minute the experience consumers encounter when grocery shopping. As they enter a store or navigate online, in any given category, people will contend with similar product stories and formulations or ingredient claims alongside similar product packaging. Given the continued proliferation of brands, flavors, and forms, it can be a bit of a blur, perhaps bordering on confusing.
An angry undercurrent of frustration with brands haunts the marketplace.
As we enter the New Year, let’s think about the significance of brands slightly differently. Let’s think about the reciprocal, significant connections between brands, cities and citizens of those cities. Let’s think about brands not as cars or toilet tissues or colas. Let’s think about brands as powerful, tangible and intangible elements of a city’s heritage. Let’s think of brands as civic touchstones; brands as evocative of a city spirit; brands as historically-valued and culturally-imbued objects...
