Today I was studying along side of my daughter who is preparing for a role in a play. We were discussing the emotions that her character was feeling and the empathy that she needed to draw from her audience. At that point – I made my own connection for a brand that I am ideate-ing for… I had that moment when it all came to me and the big idea emerged. That epiphany brought me to explore what makes a strong brand experience.
The wallpaper of Spanish caveman, the hieroglyph-ridden obelisks of ancient Egypt – modern design descends from a primeval tradition of iconography, embodying the same simplicity, directness and preoccupation with visual codification humans embraced long long ago. Since the dawn of design our ancient ancestors communicated through visual icons just as modern day brands speak to consumers through experience.
Today consumer brands speak through advertising, the internet and packaging. Business brands converse with audiences through sales forces, literature and the internet. Each medium contributes beyond the intended message. For example, a phone number on a business card carries different baggage that that of the same phone number etched on a bathroom wall. Its not just what is said, but how and where it is said.
Because a brand appears so often and in so many places its message must be clear, refined and protected. In creating branded experiences all of the mediums come together to sing one common song, some in different octaves… but they converge to deliver a symphony that spawns consumer emotions – gut feelings and desire. It is that desire that sells products and services.
“The creation of art is not the fulfillment of a need but the creation of a need. The world never needed Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony until he created it. Now we could not live without it.” – Louis I Kahn
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