What is a brand? Well if you reference Wikipedia, it’s “a name, term, design, symbol or other feature that distinguishes an organization or product from its rivals in the eyes of the customer.” Today this is the first result you get on Google when you type the word brand in the search field. The second result is a standard dictionary definition given to us by the Merriam-Webster website. It says that a brand is “a class of goods identified by name as the product of a single firm or manufacturer.”
I say that these definitions, along with all of the other definitions that come up in the pages and pages of Google search results, are all inadequate. They all fail because, in the hundreds of words they use to define a brand, they don’t acknowledge or allude to the one thing that is most important—love.
Yes love, that very powerful word that abundantly rolls off the tongues of humans the world over. To make the connection, I think it’s necessary to first suspend the notion that a brand, as Wikipedia might want you to believe, is little more than the distinguishable name or logo given to an organization or product. Yes, Nike, Apple, and BMW are all brands, but so are Brooklyn, Beyonce, and Barack Obama. These are neither firms or manufacturers, so should we rely on the definition given to us by Merriam-Webster?
When it comes to words, I go by a very simple rule: if the definition I’m given doesn’t fit, or is confusing, I look for a new one. For me, confusion around a word typically occurs when either it takes too long to explain it, or it’s used in abundance with very little agreement in its definition. Brand is one of those words. To understand the word brand, I need a definition that fits. One that is simple but useful. The definition I use for brand is simply, “anything, anyone, or any place valued by people.”
This definition is useful to me because it ties together what a brand is, to people. It fits because people use the same terms to describe their feelings about a brand that’s a company, as they do to express feelings about a brand that’s a place or a person. They use words like love.
So let’s think wider and simpler for a minute. If a person loves a brand, what they are really saying is that they value the brand. If this is the case, is it so crazy to think of your dog, favorite aunt, or even the tree that is shading your front porch, as a brand? No, none of these things have iconic logos or brand guides, but if it’s of value to you, of course it’s a brand.
But I’m sure the number of people who think of their pet as a brand is pretty small. This is because we have relied on Google, Wikipedia, and Merriam-Webster to define what we should already know through a careful examination of the way we use words. I have expressed how much I love Starbucks for many years. I have a relationship with this brand. If Starbucks would disappear tomorrow, I would really miss it. Isn’t this the same language people use to talk about anything they value? I think so.
Thinking wider and simpler about what a brand is should help us understand that one, value is the foundation of every brand, and two, everything starts and stops with people. The entrepreneurs who are artists understand that no matter what product or service they are selling, they are really in the people business. They focus on creating value for people. With every transaction they are establishing a value relationship. The best brands bring people together, influence culture, and create memorable experiences. This happens because the creators of those brands -embrace the business they are really in. It is the business we are all in, because we are all brands.
