Brand is "to be chosen."

 Jooyun Kim's 
Spacebranding vol.10


"People buy 'Meaning' rather than 'things'."


<A brand is something that is created in the mind.>

According to John Murphy, founder of Interbrand, a brand consulting firm that evaluates the value of hundreds of brands worldwide every year, a brand is a relationship between a company and its customers.

“A brand is a relationship between customers and a company that creates future profits by securing customer preferences and loyalty.”1) What John Murphy emphasizes is that brands are the driving force behind a company's continued value creation.

Interbrand Best Global Brands 2020


The function of the brand is not limited to the commercial one. Its influence plays an increasingly important role in every conceivable field like politics and countries, sports, culture, education, travel, art, theater, literature, region, charities, etc.2)

What John Murphy emphasizes is that the brand is the driving force behind the company's continued value creation. Manabu Mizuno refers to the brand with the word 'sell' in his book, 'From Sell, to Sell'. Manabu is a brand consulting expert as the CEO of Good Design Company in Japan.

Customers choose a particular brand because it reflects their individual identity or the identity they want to be.3) As Walter Lander, a pioneer in branding and consumer research, said, "Products are created in factories, and brands are created in the mind."4)

<Brand is "likeness">

Manabu Mizuno defines a brand as "likeness" as a term that expresses the personality or unique style of the item or service.5) Brand scholar David A. Aaker personified ‘likeness’ and called it Brand Personality.

In psychology, personality refers to "internal personality" and "external personality" that is refined and visible to others is called persona. Brand 'likeness' is created from the customer's perception of both.6)

What is the most important thing to think about in 'likeness'? People's faces all look different. Since there are differences in businesses, it is possible to think of the 'likeness' of the business as a 'face.' The Korean etymology for 'face' is interesting. 

The Korean etymology for 'face' is interesting. "uhl" means soul, spirit, mind, inner side, and "gul" means bone, frame, award, form, shape, bowl, image, the face is eventually a bowl of soul.7)

In other words, the ‘likeness’ of a business can be created only when there is an ‘uhl’ of the company or the products and services it provides. The human face always shows the state of mind in which he is in. The soul and spirit of the business are also needed for the 'likeness' of the business.

©Brett Jordan


Manabu says there is always something he checks with the company first in brand consulting. It is the 'purpose' and 'representation' of the company. By understanding it first, it is to materialize the 'likeness' or 'uhl' for the brand of a company, product, or service.8)
 
Tom Peters says the following questions help shape the business 'uhl'.9)
Who are you?
Why are you here?
What is unique about you?
How to achieve dramatic differentiation?
As the last and most important question, is there enthusiasm?

<Brand 'UHl'='Meaning'>

Let's take a look at Apple's answers to Peters' questions. Apple's soul, spirit, is "Think Different." Every Apple product reflects that spirit. What would the customer's impression be if the products and services released were great and the person or space that handled them were not supporting their excellence? 

Apple Park from Foster + Partners

Over the past few decades, two important facts have been discovered in business research. The first is that radical innovation is a major factor in long-term competitive improvement, and the second is that people buy 'Meaning(existential value)' rather than 'things.' 

From The Central Saint Martins LVMH creative platform for regenerative luxury

Customers purchase goods for profound emotional, psychological, and socio-cultural reasons as well as practicality and purpose.10) The reason, ‘meaning’ is ‘uhl’.






<5 Summaries>

"People buy 'Meaning' rather than 'things'."

"Brand should have 'uhl', the 'purpose' and 'representation'."

"Brand should have 'likeness'. David A. Aaker personified ‘likeness’ and called it Brand Personality."

"Manabu Mizuno refers to the brand as 'sold'."

"A brand is a relationship between a customer and a company that creates future profits by securing customer preferences and loyalty.”




 1) “A brand is a relationship between company and customer that secures future earnings by securing preference and loyalty.”
2)Wally Olins, On Brand, Thames & Hudson, 2003, pp. 14
3)Catharine Slade-Brooking, Creating a Brand Identity: A Guide for Designers, Laurence King Publishing, 2016, pp. 14
4)Catharine Slade-Brooking, Creating a Brand Identity: A Guide for Designers, Laurence King Publishing, 2016, pp. 18
5)Manabu Mizuno, From Sell, to Sell, 誠文堂新光社, 2016, pp. 28
6)홍성태 지음, “모든 비즈니스는 브랜딩이다”, 샘앤파커스, 2012.7.15., 282-294쪽
7)‘얼굴의 우리말 어원’, 진솔당 편집, from https://blog.naver.com/dear_jinsol/10108057967
8)Manabu Mizuno, From Sell, to Sell, 誠文堂新光社, 2016, pp. 15
9)Tom Peters, Tom Peters Essentials Design, DK, 2005, pp. 132
10)Roberto Verganti, Design Driven Innovation, Harvard Business Press, 2009, pp. 26-27 


Jooyun Kim

jykim@hongik.ac.kr





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Beginning of Space Branding: Prada Epicenter

Image
    Jooyun Kim's  Spacebranding vol.14 "Prada has imprinted on the public what 'Prada luxury' is with one marvelous space." <Guggenheim Museum to Prada flagship store.> In 2001, a spacebranding space was created in Soho, Manhattan, New York. 'New York Prada Epicenter' is a Prada flagship store. The author takes this space as the beginning of a true modern "spacebranding." 'New York Prada Epicenter', Soho, New York © Jooyun Kim Soho New York ©  Jooyun Kim Prada opened the Guggenheim Museum branch in Soho, which once led American art to the center of the world and was a leading art street, to the public as a flagship store. However, the store's approach was fundamentally different from before. It's a store that doesn't look like a store at all. Prada eliminated the area by drilling nearly half of the ground floor in Manhattan's Soho, where the price per floor area is high. The first floor and the basement are directly ...
Read more

Space is the brand's worldview and media

Image
  Jooyun Kim's  Spacebranding vol.41 "Space branding is controlling everything that is seen in the world to be ideal for a company or brand." <Lotte World Character Lotty's apartment> What does Lotty, a 32-year-old employee, do after work? It is the story of Lotte World's character Lotty. In August 2021, "Lotty's Apartment" was created as a pop-up store on the streets of Seongsu-dong. The goal is to announce the rebranded character Lotty. It was intended to experience the newly created Lotty's worldview through space. Lotty's Apartment by Project Rent ©Jooyun Kim Although it was August, when it was difficult to move due to the rainy season and the heat wave, more than 1,000 people a week visited the small apartment on the street. The space consists of a living room and a home office, and various props for the Lotty, such as pouches and household items, were made. Lotty's Apartment by Project Rent ©Jooyun Kim Of course, I was able to...
Read more

What is Good Space for Space Branding

Image
  Jooyun Kim's  Spacebranding vol.39 “A ‘good space’ for space branding is a Dionysian emotional space.” < 'Space' = 'Symbol of meaning'> Human beings think through 'words,' says psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung. Visual images are also like words. ‘Positioning’ is a term used to describe the concept of positioning a company, product, or service in the most advantageous place in the mind of the customer. Marketing theorist Jack Trout, who first popularized it, says: “The word ‘word’ is like the trigger of a gun, which triggers the meaning buried in it.” 1) The spatial image we see is something that replaces something that can be accessed with a purpose, a 'symbol' of meaning. German psychologist Rudolf Arnheim reveals that a person's reaction to the figure and the psychological state can be judged only by a drawing of a curved, smooth figure or lightning-like sharp figure on paper. If the clumsy graffiti painting on paper is the same, it can b...
Read more