I think of branding not as marketing
But as framing or storytelling

As a tool
For creating meaning
Around a product, business or person

We humans live around meaning
It allows us to elevate what is,
To what it could become

Which allows us to move from reality
To aspiration
To dreaming
And emotion

It allows us to want to ally ourselves
With who or what we’d like to be

Branding is about
Designing a meaning
Designing a story

Designing the identity of a thing

The identity of a product
The identity of a business
The identity of a cause

With that, the brand becomes so much more than the thing itself
It becomes a canvas of aspirations

This is why startup pitches get investment without any project
Why products with insane markups get sold
Or what binds the fragile team of a startup together

A brand is about what is to be
About potential
Not about what actually is

And because it is aspirational
It’s empowering

Because it allows a thing that isn’t
to identify and focus itself

Into a product
Into a team
Or into a business

It’s that imaginative power of a brand
To bind together
That fascinates me about branding

It fascinates me
as a tool for product development
As a tool for team motivation
As a tool for entrepreneurship

It fascinates me
for its power to make people believe

And therefore to become a self-fulfilling prophecy