Is Your Brand One Step From the Grave?

Do you think of a brand as being alive? If you don’t, you should.

Every brand has a life of its own. It has energy. It has power and a physical presence. It should be seen – and heard. It is a feeling, an emotion, a spark. It conveys movement, status and vision. It is an idea that matters. It can be taken wherever you go and shared with everyone you meet.

My dictionary defines the word alive as “having life . . . active . . . full of energy and spirit . . . vibrant.” To me, that’s a pretty good description of a brand.

Having life is what makes people want to be their brand. It reveals something about themselves without a word being spoken. Because I wear Levis, this is who I am. Because I shop at Williams-Sonoma, this is what I’m like. Because I get my groceries at Trader Joe’s, this food represents me. It’s more than my car. It’s my lifestyle.

The most lively brands seek to bond with their consumers. Think about Apple’s Siri. It’s a human voice, not a machine. Talk to your phone and it will talk back. Listening is good, too. Peyton Manning’s car listens to him. I want one of those. People line up for the latest in technology because technology keeps advancing toward being more human. Artificial intelligence. A virtual assistant. Cars that see things I can’t and care enough to warn me. The local pharmacy whose computer automatically refills my prescriptions because it senses I will run out soon. It senses my needs. Why would I shop anywhere else?

What makes a brand tip towards remarkable? I think it is the ability to be as human as possible. Just like us, brands need to keep learning and doing. They need to advance or risk stagnation, loss of identity – and purpose. A brand must keep moving forward, growing, responding.

All this gives a brand life. And a brand is most alive when the value of what it means to us is greater than the value of what it does.

If that isn’t your brand, it’s time for a change. Because changing a brand does not sacrifice it.

It keeps it alive.