Building Brand Relevance Through Meaning

Brands are more than mere providers of goods and services. We expect them to act as leaders and address pressing societal concerns. Insights from Edelman's Trust Barometer and other studies reveal that consumers are increasingly seeking responses from organisations and their leaders to deeply felt issues. Edelman, for instance, reports that we now ask CEOs globally to take a public stand on issues such as treatment of employees, climate change, discrimination, wealth gap and others. If we accept that CEOs represent their organisations and the brand, this shift underscores a profound truth: people are searching for meaning, and they look to brands for contributions.

But what is meaning? In essence, meaning is the "why" behind our actions—the driving force that gives purpose to what we do. For brands, creating meaning is crucial to fostering deep, enduring relationships with their audience. It leads to loyalty, emotional engagement, and ultimately, brand power. The problem for many brands, though, is that meaning is difficult to define and plan for - or we should say: impossible. Meaning is the consequence of complex dynamics in society and smaller communities that are in constant evolution in response to stimuli from a fast-paced, ever-changing world. Organisations that aspire to plan and controle their interaction with the public, are ill suited for such a reality.

Brands that want to engage with their audience in the generation of meaning need to embrace a new mindset, one that looks at the market in a systemic way. One that understands that brands are not the centre of a small world (their world), but a part of a bigger, more articulated context, in which they are now called to play a role and add value.

To find guidance in understanding how brands can look at their audience with new eyes and a more effective toolkit, we can turn to some concepts explored in Fritjof Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi's book The Systems View of Life.

The Systems View of Life: A Framework for Understanding (Also) Brands

Capra and Luisi illustrate a concept that was proposed by Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, the most prominent members of the Santiago School. According to the two Chilean investigators, all living systems engage in a constant activity of adaptation to the changing environment they are part of. This constant generation of responses to external stimuli is called autopoiesis. Capra and Luisi, maintain that autopoiesis can be used as a model to understand social systems, too, but with an adjustment.?

When we look at any biological living system, we can adopt three different perspectives. We can analyse their structure (by observing and describing their organs), we can study how they are organised (by looking at the relationship between their organs), and we can observe the very process of interacting between the organs (by looking at how the system of organs responds to internal or external stimuli). If we want to adopt the model to understand social systems, a new element is to be taken into account: meaning. While in biological living systems the process is generated by autopoiesis, thus being a purely biological self-generated adaptation, in social systems the process of adaptation is confronted with the exclusively human ability to form abstract mental images. Our inner world of concepts, ideas, images, and symbols is a critical dimension of social reality, say Capra and Luisi. Social scientists maintain that language plays a key role in human interactions. Expressing abstract concepts and being of symbolic nature, it involves communication of meaning, and our actions flow from the meaning that we attribute to our surroundings. In other terms, in the process of communicating with the network of people that are relevant to us, we generate meaning, a process that allows us to understand our specific context and thrive in it.

Sociologist Manuel Castells highlights that these networks are self-generating because individuals respond with their own will to external stimuli, continuously reorganising the system through their interactions. In other words, a culture, a community, a group or a specific audience are in constant evolution because communication among their members creates new meaning and a way to regenerate themselves. Castells calls these ensambles networks of communication.

For brands, understanding this concept is crucial. Brands are part of these self-generating networks (not the centre, but a part of the network), where communication (words and deeds) is the fundamental driver for the generation of meaning. The messages they send out, the values they embody, and the actions they take, all contribute to the creation of meaning within their networks. If brands learn how to operate in a network of communication, they will be able to co-create meaning with the network and be relevant to its members.?

It is to be noted that in this view, meaning always has to do with the context. Meaning is generated by the response of individuals and communities to the stimuli that come from the context. So brands must be aware not only of the behaviours in their audience, but also of the context in which their audience operates. Nothing is really meaningful if not in a context.

Leading with Relevant Disturbances

Citing the social theorist étienne Wenger, Capra and Luisi note that in organisations we can observe formal and informal networks of communication. Wenger calls them “communities of practice”. In this article, for simplicity we will assume that networks and communities indicate the same concept. Informal networks are embodied by the people in the organisation that engage in a common practice that defines how individuals relate and act within the community. What is right, relevant and accepted in one community of practice, may be wrong, irrelevant and rejected by the members of another.?

Communities of practice are living systems: they evolve over time and adapt to stimuli. The arrival of a new manager, the exit of a charismatic leader or the enrolment of a person with a completely different culture may cause a network (a community of practice) to reconfigure itself in response. Capra and Luisi introduce the concept of “disturbances”—external stimuli that prompt a response from the system. In social networks, disturbances lead to communication and behavioural changes that generate new meaning.?

Brands can include disturbances in their toolkit and play a pivotal role by introducing relevant stimuli that resonate with their audience's values and concerns. For example, a brand addressing gender equality can introduce campaigns or initiatives that challenge the status quo and prompt conversations within their community. These disturbances can lead to deeper engagement and a stronger connection with the audience, as people see the brand as a leader in addressing issues that matter to them.?

Procter and Gamble’s enduring commitment with women through iconic Dove campaigns on “real beauty” is an example. As is their campaign “Kids’ Self Esteem”.

A recent campaign by plant-based milk producer Oatly is another example. In response to the concern of people over what is the impact on the planet of the food they consume, the company has asked the whole food industry for complete transparency on the footprint of their products. And they set the standard by showing clearly a CO2 indicator that they call “Climate Footprint”.

Brand Co-Creation and Co-Creation of Meaning

The concept of brand co-creation, as explored by Nicholas Ind and Oriol Iglesias, aligns perfectly with the view that I have illustrated above. Ind and Iglesias make the case for brands to exercise a leadership in the community they join or generate. It’s not a leadership based on command and controle, but rather on the ability of the brand to skilfully stir the conversation and revive it when it is waning.

In their book Brand Desire, How to Create Consumer Involvement and Inspiration, the authors report about the co-creation strategies of LEGO and French telecom operator Orange. The two companies have opened up to a new mindset that includes customers in the creation of communities around ideas or activities they deem important.?

After going through difficult years, LEGO has revived its business also through the creation of brand communities and has learned that the brand is not in command, but participates and stimulates the conversation in them. For instance, LEGO learned how to support a new movement of animation film makers that use LEGO bricks to create their movies.

Brands that understand communities of practice and disturbances, can facilitate co-creation by engaging their audience in meaningful ways—soliciting feedback, involving them in product development, or collaborating with social initiatives that are meaningful for the audience in a given time. This not only enhances the brand's relevance but also fosters a sense of ownership and loyalty among consumers.

Spanish beer retailer Estrella Damm was famous for its yearly summertime advertising campaigns showing young groups of people enjoying friendship and flirting in Catalonian seaside locations of Costa Brava. When climate change became clearly a heartfelt issue for its public and the company started to receive criticism for its contribution to sea pollution (with cans and plastic holder rings), Estrella Damm decided to embrace the problem and launch a new campaign that invited their audience to acknowledge that something needed to be done. The campaign was dubbed Otra Forma de Vivir (Another Way of Living - which was the title of the beautiful song featured in it) came with a series of activities that helped to raise awareness and to promote virtuous behaviours.

Estrella Damm was legitimated to adopt a leading role in creating a movement, because it showed a level of commitment to transition from source of the problem to promoter of a solution. And because the issue was (and is) relevant to Estrella Damm’s public, the brand was able to create a meaningful conversation and stir it in positive ways. While in the previous decade, the brand was able to create meaning around the dream of a carefree and life-enjoying youth, now, Estrella Damm moved on in tune with the times and generated new meaning around restoring the damage done to the sea.

The Path Forward for Brands

In today's complex and interconnected world, the systems view offers brands a more realistic, comprehensive and balanced way to engage with their audiences. By understanding the dynamics of self-generating networks, the role of communication, and the importance of introducing relevant disturbances, brands can create deep relationships with their audience. And by understanding the contextual nature of meaning, they can become more relevant and in tune with the ever-changing world they live in. Brands that understand the nature of meaning will be able to anticipate, understand, and address the opportunities that come in the form of new expectations from the public.

I am a brand strategist and I believe that business should help people to be happier. So I work with corporate and personal brands on a journey to the next level, with powerful strategies and inspiring narratives.