The science behind brands

There lies a unique science behind every successful brand. Almost 90% of advertising and marketing professionals do not know about it but practice it as a ritual. This has camouflaged the scientific technology which decides the price premium you pay for your aspiring brand. But as a course correction, the new paradigm of the brand needs some functional modification which will help us define and redefine brands.

Firstly let us understand brand science in detail. It is called as Semiology, the study of meaning. Do you know that your brain cannot understand the language? Yes, the language you speak is from your cognition which is from your past learning. But the brain does not store and recall it as a language and this irony is successfully used by semiotics specialists. So what does your brain do? It reads, stores and recalls data only as signs. Signs are the only mode which fuels the brain’s functioning.

The tick mark of NIKE is the signifier which means the athlete’s attitude of ‘Just do it’ and other values which are attached to it. Coca Cola is the signifier for universal harmony and brotherhood.

A sign has two parts to it. A) The signifier - the symbol of the material code. B) The signified - is the meaning of the signifier. This technology was borrowed from comics and then from films. For example, the tick mark of NIKE is the signifier which means the athlete’s attitude of ‘Just do it’ and other values which are attached to it. Coca Cola is the signifier for universal harmony and brotherhood. Now the interesting fact is that you like the values like harmony and brotherhood and identify yourself with it. But when someone has created the symbol for universal harmony and brotherhood you subconsciously replace these values with the materialistic symbol called Coca Cola.

For more than a century all customers including me were fooled in a way by this simple science. This is the core principle which makes branding possible and it defines and creates the world of the brand in your perception and becomes the tool of projection technology. This is also subliminal and the Neuro-linguistic programming which is difficult for you to understand unless you are a semiotic specialist. The entire world of logo and brand identity is based on this.

The basis of all the brand perception creation processes is based on brand semiotics and it is the secret behind the success stories of all the best brands in the world.

You would have noticed that every brand will follow unique signs, symbols, graphic design, tonality and so on in all its projection techniques of communication. This is called the Brand Identity System which means the brand’s narration or story which is intended to make its customers identify with themselves or their values with a brand. The guideline of the Brand Identity System is encapsulated in a detailed sacrosanct called brand manual. The basis of all these processes is based on brand semiotics and it is the secret behind the success stories of all the best brands in the world.

Branding is all about humanizing a product and it lives only in people’s mind as a belief and its signs.

So what do these do to the customer? In short, they hit the emotional chord with the customer and evoke an affinity and intimacy with the brand. It makes a packed product into an emotional bond which yields to the relationship. In other words, it is transforming a packaged commodity as a human being with its personality which reflects your attitude and primary values. Yes, branding is all about humanizing a product and it lives only in people’s mind as a belief and its signs. But this happens on your hindsight. The more they project the more you perceive and the imagery of the brand is constructed in your subconscious without your awareness.

Brand nurturing is not done based on projection anymore but by listening and responding technology, in short, it is called as persuasion technology.

Unfortunately, this technology has become obsolete now where the brand nurturing is not done based on projection anymore but by listening and responding technology, in short, it is called as persuasion technology. Let us take a look at Airtel, the largest mobile service provider in India. Airtel has come out with a high Share of Voice campaign for its 4G launch. The campaign in simple word is Airtel challenges its customers to prove to them that their 4G network is slower than other networks. Moreover, your customers now understand all these technologies and are highly knowledgeable than marketer. Now here we are not discussing a perspective which will get rid of semiotics.

The signs are going to be transformed as signals.

There is an evolved scenario where semiology is upgraded and applicable in an improvising pattern. The signs are going to be transformed as signals. So what is the difference between signs and signal? In its purpose signs are created to give the meaning. But signals are designed to provoke an action. Signals will be time and context-bound and will vary within the brand identity spectrum. The communication of the deodorant brand for young girls can be of fun on one platform and could be a hardship on another platform and you will not feel the difference in the persona as both these communication reflects the same value of liberation. The problem with signs is that it is passive, defined and works on a one-way communication i.e. from the perspective of the sender. But signal can work both ways and that will be the way semiotics will work from the near future.