Building Iconic Brands Purposefully

Elon Musk said- “Brand is just a perception, and perception will match reality over time.”

After a strenuous thinking session of which industry to cater to & services to provide, doodling up a logo quite descriptive & unique which can help the company sustain its identity in the ever-changing business environment, along with a suitable eye-catchy motto elaborating the company’s vision & after all that, patenting to claim the rights of the creativity which blossoms after days of discussions & negotiations…well pretty much this is the roadmap until company brings out a – “BRAND”. Not wholly being a brand life cycle, rather a foundation to all of it that is shaped by how the company further portrays itself in the market, and how people perceive it.

Making a brand “iconic” takes innumerable factors in action; totally, depending on what basis the company wants to go around marketing its goods & services. The titans of advertising back in the ‘40s believed that basic human emotions like- greed, lust, need to fit in, etc., may drive to be the universal values to act upon while advertising. This led to the rise of “Inadequacy Marketing” & a few years later, when mediums and channels of advertising changed, so did the market being influenced too, henceforth came “Empowerment Marketing”. The only basic difference between these two forms of marketing the brands is – making people feel inadequate/insufficient and in other cases, making consumers the hero and protagonists who can relate to the brand vision.

Now the famous & iconic brands we know globally carry a story, even a legacy & sometimes, hilarious anecdotes behind them. For example- Lamborghini started as a truck manufacturer & the day Enzo Ferrari dismissed him saying that he did not know anything about sports cars; we all know his observations started a legacy in luxury sports cars. Now, BMW was initially in the aviation sector, until Germany lost WW2, signed the Versailles Armistice Treaty & the company faced bankruptcy. That is how the story of BMW shifting to motorcycle & car manufacturing started with their logo being a tribute to their aviation operations. In addition, we all know Apple’s logo. Well, turns out it was never a tribute to Alan Turing, rather a simple “fruit obsession” of Steve Job towards Apple that made the legendary logo come into action.

All these excerpts and many more tell us how an organisation sets out to present its brand to the customers & the potential markets. In my opinion, the elements that can Build Brands to an Enigmatic level with significance must involve- a captivating name, a one-of-a-kind symbol, a bright vision & undeviating mission, and finally, a story that can drive the impact of the brand going on & on, for years, generations and markets to come.

To know more about the topic, do attend our Global Talk Series on the topic, “Building Iconic Brands Purposefully” on 07 February 2022.

1 comment

  1. Jahnavi Sahni says:

    Very insightful!! Cannot wait to attend the talk series

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *