The past of branding was debranding, what is the future?

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to watch a branding exercise from very close with a leading agency that has branded the future of the most popular social media company - Meta. There is so much detail that goes into creating a brand before it is handed over to the true brand custodians - people.

Have you ever felt you have superpowers when you are using Apple products? Is it because of the product or the perception created through marketing? The branding is complex. Gone are the days you'd pick a logo, typeface, and color in the name of branding. Earlier, branding had two-fold goals - sell stuff, and differentiate from the competition. Today, the brand needs to come alive in a 360-degree experience for buyers. As a brand manager, you have to build a brand story that your audience builds based on the signals you send. In the digital native world, you no longer have a brand custodian because a true brand will come alive through real users in the case of B2C, and through employees and customers in the case of B2B. It is a classic case of the application of nudge where a brand custodian cannot do much except hope that people interpret the brand as envisioned. How do you build something magical that your user base can run with and still stay coherent with your imagination of the brand?

The future of branding was debranding (2018): Here is an amazing take by Thierry Brunfaut, Creative Director and Partner at Base where he built a case that the future of branding is debranding. The story has played out over the last four years exactly as he envisioned in this video and now we are at the fag end where late followers are resorting to debranding in search of relevance in today's digital-first world.

Discarding depth, and detail while debranding: Fast forward 4-years from the previous video, in 2022 we see so many brands that have debranded themselves to be more usable by their audience in the digital universe. The keyword is perception and belief. Here is a video from 2 -weeks ago that lists some of the debranding examples:

One thing that strongly applies to the future from Thierry's video is, "Branding is not working for a brand, it is working on the perception of a brand and making people believe there is no alpha substitute to this brand and select your brand from the mess of brands." How do you build a brand for the future which is ever-less controllable, ever more unpredictable, and forever in a state of flux?

Brand representation in today's digital era: Can you really afford to have monochrome style brand representation and be very particular about how various people use it? It is almost impossible in the virtual world which offers endless possibilities right from playing with colors to creating animations around brand representations. The brand custodians need to adopt a more fluid approach and create a brand identity that is suited for digital channels and offers a creative angle to their design teams. It will help them avoid a rustic look and achieve the purpose of a brand becoming truly a people symbol. In fact, use this flexibility to create a freshness on social pages and draw people's attention when they spot a totally new look and feel every month.

AI in branding: If you are not convinced about having a flexible brand, think about AI revolutionizing the design space. Canva has virtually turned everyone into a designer. The image and video processing tools are super-awesome and handy today. Why would you now like to leverage this open-source phenomenon and let your brand paint the internet red?

Memorable brand to live another day: We are flooded with brands in our life, right from waking up to going to bed we come across thousands of brands. Whether it is items we use at home, brands we browse online, or products we see during a short trip to the nearby market, we are constantly bombarded with brands. Add to it, an hour of glued time with undivided attention consuming videos on YouTube, Reels, TikTok, and so on. It is very important to keep your brand simple and stand out in the crowd.

Identify brand like a family: Coke is just soda, Levi's are just jeans, still why a rational consumer would pay more for the exactly the same thing. Okay, I know consumers are not rational. But do you know how brands influence your thinking? Watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eIDBV4Mpek (Copy and paste the link)

Can you ever imagine someone getting the Apple logo wrong even in their sleep? The answer to the questions of what lies ahead for branding is immersive branding for B2C companies. Just as it is required for true digital transformation to have cloud and data fabric, immersive branding requires you to be prepared for a digital-first world. As we grapple with over-branding, the mundane becomes the next magic wand for brand marketers. Design your brand so simple that things cannot go wrong when you hand it over to people and let it become their brand. The following link provides a good handbook for designing visual brand in 2022:

Leaving you with an excellent video on how #brand is different from #visual identity. See you in the next week with another interesting topic on marketing.