Branding is a love story. It is a story of value. It is a story of worth. It is a story of connection—connecting you to the thing that you were created to do or the products or services that you love.
Although my brand story may differ from yours, it is probably strikingly similar to yours. Marketing executives and major brands spend millions of dollars to create an experience that is driven by the voice of the customer; driven by the wants, desires, and influences of millions with little to no marketing experience.
I am like everyone else. I was never taught what branding was or schooled on the 7 principles of branding, or the 10 theories of effective branding. I just knew what I loved. I knew what things I connected with. Brands have impacted my life and I didn’t even realize it. I grew up playing sports and I loved sneakers.
We have all had that experience with a brand that goes beyond the product, it goes beyond our initial interaction. It is the memory, the draw, the feeling, the connection, and that association that money cannot buy. My brand story started back to the fall of ’85. My team colors were Carolina blue and white, and it was time to make a very important decision of which sneakers I would wear during the basketball season. I had always been a Nike fan and bought Nike sneakers, but something happened that fall that solidified my brand connection to Nike. The first Air Jordans came out in red/black/white for $65. I always color coordinated my sneakers with my uniform. I went against my style standards and bought the shoes. I wasn’t concerned with what my coach thought or what I looked like. What drove me to want those Air Jordans? What drives you? What brands have impacted your life? What is your brand story?
As a graduating senior in graphic design, I use a certain brand of software to develop my projects, which is Adobe. Adobe was introduced to me in the very first course of my studies, and is the only brand our department uses. I was unaware of other various software tools available to me, until I began to search for jobs and found that certain companies use another popular software brand Corel. Corel is just about an equally top-performing software brand as Adobe, but I have not developed a desire to learn this particular brand of software since I was never introduced to it, and have had no access to Corel as a student. I will always buy Adobe software for the one simple reason— it works. However, being in this field does call me to be diverse, so a part of me is pushing to learn Corel.
Pavi ElleBranding has such a strong effect on a person, for example, walk up to any student in my program and ask them if they prefer Adobe or Corel, it will be close to 100% of students or professors that will tell you Adobe. Besides, Adobe is the most talked about, widely used, has more variety of programs available, and not to mention, it cutting edge technology. So there you have it, my personal brand story. I prefer and will always buy (even though I can’t really afford it now) Adobe products.
April 1st, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Branding is extremely valuable, in that it is over 80% of a company’s net worth. Branding makes one customer purchase a certain “branded” product over another. It commands a premium price as well.
Dan SchawbelMay 22nd, 2007 at 10:06 am