What are the things that you like to associate yourself with? The clothes you buy, the watch you wear, the car you drive are all brands. Sure, they serve a purpose, they have certain functionality, but the reason you choose one thing over another of the same type is its brand.
What is a consumer brand? A brand is formed when a product begins to stand for something common in the perceptions of multiple consumers. When multiple people associate a product with a common characteristic(s), the product rises from being a product to a brand.
The objective of any consumer product-maker, then, would be to create a qualitative perception that stands for something more than just the purpose or intention of the product. A watch is supposed to tell the time, and every watch does that, but what makes say, Tag Heuer a brand is that consumers perceive Tag Heuer watches as more than trinkets that tell time. When a consumer thinks about Tag Heuer, the first thing to cross his mind isn't "a watch that tells time perfectly". Rather, what cross his mind are more intangible, more abstract nuances : 'quality', 'rarity', 'Swiss-made', 'pride in owning a Tag'. Besides these, a significant component of these mental associations (and which influences his buying decision) is how his public image will be enhanced when he is seen sporting this brand. Our quest for social status includes the unapologetic acquisition of items with brands accepted as reflective of wealth and good taste. So the product (a Tag Heuer watch) now becomes associated with values - in terms of respect, stature, and as said before, a sign of the owner's wealth and good taste. And these attributes that lift the product to being a brand.
What is the role of creativity here? Consider the objective mentioned earlier - create a favorable perception that links the product to definite, aspirational attributes in the minds of potential customers. There are channels and techniques of communication to meet these objectives, but creativity is the enabler that allows this to be met memorably, with originality, and in a way that is innovative. The other big role of creativity is in how one manipulates and utilizes these techniques to create a desire in the audience to be associated with the brand.
Creativity and brand-building go hand-in-hand. As much as branding becomes quantitative, that human element that allows the product to transform into an emotional attachment cannot, and will not, be captured by technology. It must come from the human brain - the only machine capable of synthesizing ideas and solutions through a little thing called imagination.
What is a consumer brand? A brand is formed when a product begins to stand for something common in the perceptions of multiple consumers. When multiple people associate a product with a common characteristic(s), the product rises from being a product to a brand.
The objective of any consumer product-maker, then, would be to create a qualitative perception that stands for something more than just the purpose or intention of the product. A watch is supposed to tell the time, and every watch does that, but what makes say, Tag Heuer a brand is that consumers perceive Tag Heuer watches as more than trinkets that tell time. When a consumer thinks about Tag Heuer, the first thing to cross his mind isn't "a watch that tells time perfectly". Rather, what cross his mind are more intangible, more abstract nuances : 'quality', 'rarity', 'Swiss-made', 'pride in owning a Tag'. Besides these, a significant component of these mental associations (and which influences his buying decision) is how his public image will be enhanced when he is seen sporting this brand. Our quest for social status includes the unapologetic acquisition of items with brands accepted as reflective of wealth and good taste. So the product (a Tag Heuer watch) now becomes associated with values - in terms of respect, stature, and as said before, a sign of the owner's wealth and good taste. And these attributes that lift the product to being a brand.
What is the role of creativity here? Consider the objective mentioned earlier - create a favorable perception that links the product to definite, aspirational attributes in the minds of potential customers. There are channels and techniques of communication to meet these objectives, but creativity is the enabler that allows this to be met memorably, with originality, and in a way that is innovative. The other big role of creativity is in how one manipulates and utilizes these techniques to create a desire in the audience to be associated with the brand.
Creativity and brand-building go hand-in-hand. As much as branding becomes quantitative, that human element that allows the product to transform into an emotional attachment cannot, and will not, be captured by technology. It must come from the human brain - the only machine capable of synthesizing ideas and solutions through a little thing called imagination.
