What is a brand? One of the definitions is - a kind of variety of something distinguished by some distinctive characteristic(s). 'Distinguish or Distinct' are the operative words here. The distinction is said to be in the eyes of the beholder. Many beholden candidates make for a well known brand.
Today more than ever due either to the world pancaking (read flat) phenomenon or collapse of variety of so called unassilable and storied names in industry or partly due to information dissemination at high velocity the concept of and appeal to said beholders is becoming less relevant.
This is true of automobiles, garments, packaged foods, financial institutions and scores of electronic gadgets to name a few examples.
Citigroup, Lehman, Ford, Toyota, Jaguar, Tiger etc, come to mind. Notice the subtle move from civilization to the jungle kind in a manner of speaking...brand relevance is becoming short lived for sure akin to half life of a highly radioactive isotope.
To digress a little - used to be that people swore on their faith based document of choice to proclaim undying commitment in matrimony to their partners (a sort of human brand after all) and then to find that they part ways over anything from serious abuse of oneself to non aligned sleep habits.
Brand disloyalty is the new loyalty. New maxim - for the new age (whatever new age is - I am not actually sure when the new age began but it sounds cool).
Another paradigm is that the new brand is the 'personal brand' or 'the power of ONE'. Ability to rapidly customize and deliver value added service or products to individual tastes and budgets will define the winning providers in their respective space.
It is already apparent in the financial services space where your credit card can be as unique as you are or your home loan is tailored to meet your need and so on. Automobiles to computers to other more mundane commodities (says it in its very definition) will also eventually become fully 'made to order'.
In our current ecosystem of mass consumption every brand or entity; business or product even entire civilizations reach a critical mass, station or point in their lifecycle that they start becoming susceptible to decay and / or fall from grace. It is hard to determine what that point may be but it affects their sheer existence in certain cases. Nipping the slide in the bud or wherever nipping is possible on said slide becomes crucial for containing the entropic collapse and possible rejuvenation (Apple - not the edible kind, comes to mind - mind you this is all in my mind so mind not if your mind does not quite readily grasp the concepts - its all relative).
Pan Am, TWA, General Motors or perhaps General Electric may soon be forgotten by the new generation of offsprings while Google, Facebook, Kia might be in their prime with additional Vietnamese or Indian or Brazilian brands yet to become famous.
How to compete in such a crowded 'me too' space is the quintessential question to the quidnunc's out there.
So much for Q's ...now time for some Z's
Desi Prawasi
Today more than ever due either to the world pancaking (read flat) phenomenon or collapse of variety of so called unassilable and storied names in industry or partly due to information dissemination at high velocity the concept of and appeal to said beholders is becoming less relevant.
This is true of automobiles, garments, packaged foods, financial institutions and scores of electronic gadgets to name a few examples.
Citigroup, Lehman, Ford, Toyota, Jaguar, Tiger etc, come to mind. Notice the subtle move from civilization to the jungle kind in a manner of speaking...brand relevance is becoming short lived for sure akin to half life of a highly radioactive isotope.
To digress a little - used to be that people swore on their faith based document of choice to proclaim undying commitment in matrimony to their partners (a sort of human brand after all) and then to find that they part ways over anything from serious abuse of oneself to non aligned sleep habits.
Brand disloyalty is the new loyalty. New maxim - for the new age (whatever new age is - I am not actually sure when the new age began but it sounds cool).
Another paradigm is that the new brand is the 'personal brand' or 'the power of ONE'. Ability to rapidly customize and deliver value added service or products to individual tastes and budgets will define the winning providers in their respective space.
It is already apparent in the financial services space where your credit card can be as unique as you are or your home loan is tailored to meet your need and so on. Automobiles to computers to other more mundane commodities (says it in its very definition) will also eventually become fully 'made to order'.
In our current ecosystem of mass consumption every brand or entity; business or product even entire civilizations reach a critical mass, station or point in their lifecycle that they start becoming susceptible to decay and / or fall from grace. It is hard to determine what that point may be but it affects their sheer existence in certain cases. Nipping the slide in the bud or wherever nipping is possible on said slide becomes crucial for containing the entropic collapse and possible rejuvenation (Apple - not the edible kind, comes to mind - mind you this is all in my mind so mind not if your mind does not quite readily grasp the concepts - its all relative).
Pan Am, TWA, General Motors or perhaps General Electric may soon be forgotten by the new generation of offsprings while Google, Facebook, Kia might be in their prime with additional Vietnamese or Indian or Brazilian brands yet to become famous.
How to compete in such a crowded 'me too' space is the quintessential question to the quidnunc's out there.
So much for Q's ...now time for some Z's
Desi Prawasi
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