Sign of Life: About Brand and Identity
Brands and literary figures have something in common. Both are fictions that are rooted in something bigger than themselves. With the brand, it is the product, and with the literary, it is the meaningful message that appeals. Both have established an identity, captured the spirit of the times, and risen above it. They are successful and exist in our collective consciousness as if they were real.
From the folktales, Espen Askeladd emerges as the quick-thinking boy with advice for almost everything. He is open to the world, is kind, and shares generously with everyone he meets throughout the stories. We all know what his prize is. Espen's tragic brothers, Per and Pål, did worse. Pippi Longstocking rides through children's literature as one of its most popular characters. She is the rebel who will not be fooled, neither by the police officers Kling and Klang, nor by any other troublesome authority. The charming villain Peer Gynt is, act by act, seen through to the transparent. Through buck rides and mental asylum, he puts his involuntary light on existential moral problems. Retold, interpreted and dramatized every single year on the shores of Gålåvatnet.
The stories about Espen, Pippi and Peer are not only an entertaining drama about sticks and stones, but also have something significant to offer about ourselves. These can be read as a moral guide that teaches us that pride goes before a fall, and that honesty always pays off. Corny, maybe, but the formula for success lies in the precise dosage between what is real and what is unrealistically crazy — captivating, as in wishful thinking or as in a nightmare.
The brand's ability to be a problem-solver makes sense. But a brand has no value until it acquires a clear identity. Only then can we sense properties such as reliability and quality and a sense of something prestigious that is rich with positive associations. This is where the brand's role as the customer's identity marker becomes interesting. Apple gives you a sense of belonging to the creative class. With Nike, you are sporty, and behind the wheel of a Porsche, you are the king of the road.
According to Nietzsche, you only need three anecdotes to describe a human being. In our time, a brand is probably enough. Put Marimekko or Armani as a prefix on a colleague, and you have that person defined and captured in a picture. This is the effect of how the brand identity associations affect the perception of you. Our choices and everything we own and have, describe and define us for better, or sometimes worse.
An identity is a mix of many conditions. It is the culture it has originated from, the form it has, the symbolism it surrounds itself with, and the content and accent of the message. Over time, all this merges into an expression where only a tab of colour, shape or symbol is enough for perception. We do not even need the brand name to understand what we see, our associations send us where we are going. It is called "One-Word-Capital", when only a single word is enough to capture the essence. This is the sign of life, a life where we commute between values and desires.
We grew up with Espen, Pippi and Peer, and probably know them better than we know our siblings. Through years of repetitive narratives, they are well established in our consciousness. The same can be said about brands that have followed us over the years. There is often a wave of collective melancholy when old well-known brands disappear from the market. Because with a bit of goodwill, the brands, together with the literary figures, have an identity in our consciousness that feels as real as you and me. But, there is a difference.
They have never lived, but they are still very much alive.
