“Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too.”
— Blaise Pascal
A Clear Eye.
Unlocking hearts and minds in the idea economy
“Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too.”
— Blaise Pascal
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Creating an enduring brand is a huge challenge in today’s rapidly evolving marketplace. It’s similar to raising a child: it requires focused attention, intuition, and a lot of patience. It also requires a desire to change and adapt. Our natural instinct, however, is to shelter our brands, like our children, from the knocks and bumps that come in life. We want to keep our arms around them, keep them safe and under our control.
But for children and brands to thrive in today’s world, they must grow. We must encourage them to try new things, trip and fall, learn the hard lessons, find out what works and what doesn’t, and be exposed to a variety of outside perspectives and truths.
The culture of the world is different today than it was years ago, just like raising a child today is different than it was years ago. And although we are exposed to a dizzying amount of opinions and techniques, the best way to address the complex job of brand-rearing is to recognize that, like raising a child, raising a brand takes a village.
And that village is the complex web of relationships among your people, your customers, your partners, and other stakeholders. So teach your brand to be compassionate, authentic, appreciative, respectful, and, by all means, vibrant and alive. Allow it to stretch and try new things. Because in a confusing environment, and as Milton Erickson made clear, "change will lead to insight far more often than insight will lead to change."
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Brand is Not a Four-Letter Word
"Tom is timely, thought provoking and all about the new brand vision packaged as a Seinfeld stand up. I went to school on his ideas."
- Jeff Taylor, Founder, Monster.com and CEO, Eons.
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Tom,
I am so happy to know that I am not alone in this crazy new world. It is wonderful to know that there are others out there that see brands as something more than just products, services, and slogans.
Indeed, brands are like biological entities. They have characters all their own. They grow. They adapt. And most of all they survive by interacting with and participating in the communities in which they exist.
In a nutshell, brands are living, breathing things.
To see them and treat them as anything less means sure death for them.
Posted by: Dan Gunter | June 30, 2009 at 07:17 AM
I like the comparision of a brand to a child. They do have a lot more in common than meets the eye!
Posted by: Michelle Chun-Hoon | July 02, 2009 at 01:06 PM