An Irresistible Brand Is Built In The Mind

“Walt Disney arrived in California in the summer of 1923 with a lot of hopes but little else.”

Waltdisneystudios.com

An irresistible brand is built in the mind. It’s built on ideas and insights that solve a meaningful problem. So, before you dream up a killer name and strap, before you design your iconic logo before you ask a brand agency to make it look like one of the big established ones - build your brand in your mind.

The idea for WeTransfer started in 2008 when co-founder Nalden attempted to receive pictures of his dad’s boat. The file size of 6MB was too large to share. Nalden decided to build a service that could cope, a service even his dad could use.

The seeds for Nike, were sown by Phil Knight while he was still at university. He wrote a business plan called, “Can Japanese Sports Shoes Do to German Sports Shoes What Japanese Cameras Did to German Cameras?” The business plan became the outline for his first shoe business.

In 1927 a young Walt Disney created a character named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. He made 26 cartoons and it was a big hit. Unexpectedly, his distributer went behind his back and signed up nearly all his animators to make the cartoons for less money without Walt Disney. On rereading his contract, Disney realised he didn’t own the rights to Oswald, the distributor did. It was a painful lesson for the young cartoon producer. From then on, he made sure he owned everything he created.

Without these deep learning curves, insights, and the ability to spot opportunities when they arise, some of the biggest brands around may have never been conceived. It’s ideas and insights that solve meaningful problems that fuel an irresistible brand. They are born, not only, out of passion and purpose, but also out of frustrations, mistakes, and righting wrongs.

When you start to build your brand in your mind, you’ll have the freedom to shape and focus what it becomes before it takes on a physical appearance. Your brand can start life as a voice memo on your phone, a scribble in a notebook, an essay, a business plan, a blog, a white paper, a manifesto or simply a statement.