Someone: What is a brand?
Me: What is your name? How was your name given?
Do you think names should be created based on Neo-Confucian principles? Do you think each family should create meaningful words or easy-to-call words? Or have you not even thought about naming yet?
A brand is the same. It's a name — but more than a name. It's the entire set of associations, expectations, and emotions that name evokes.
Just as your name carries your family's hopes and your personal history, a brand carries its creator's vision and its audience's experience. The best brands, like the best names, feel both inevitable and surprising.
