Brands influence us daily- from the shirts we wear to the slogans we utter. So what exactly is the thought behind these brainless imitations?
Nike’s “Just do it” slogan is engraved into the brains of every child and teen across the world. Apple’s products fuel creativity and ideas for small start-ups. Our lives are directly influenced by brands. Without realizing it, we wear branded messages on our shirts, utter slogans on a daily basis, and repost videos and pictures on our social media accounts made by popular brands. Some brands seize this opportunity to reach out to their audience and motivate them.
Stories
Culture is related to the creation of stories, not just the Instagram ones. Culture celebrates and welcomes motivational and purpose driven stories. The stories might be disguised as an ad or a social media campaign, yet the purpose is achieved.
Slogans
What comes to your mind when you think of slogans? Nike, L’Oreal, Coca-Cola? What makes these slogans so special? Nike’s slogan is “Just do it.” L’Oreal’s slogan is “Because You’re Worth It.” Coca-Cola’s slogan is “Open Happiness.” Is the magic formula just making the slogan inspirational? No, the reason why these brands are so successful and profitable is because their slogans are short, sweet, MEMORABLE, and change provoking.
Creating a vision
Brands create a vision for the consumer. When coming up to an organic product on an aisle in the grocery store, the image that meets the consumer’s eye is a fit athlete who is eating the product being sold. This also happens when a family is sitting together and watching a movie, then an ad comes on. The ad portrays a perfect family with values and everyone happy. When the consumer sees this, they are not only inclined to buy the product, but they are also inspired to change themselves to become the perfect image the company created.
Being the inspiration themselves
Creativity. Design. Apple is a good example of a company which does that. Apple products are the embodiment of innovation and design. This influences and inspires people and other companies to be more creative in the design of other products.
A & A
Advocacy and appeal. Ben and Jerry’s is one of the top branded advocacy organizations. Their social campaigns and causes are widely accepted. Their brand did not get popular because of ice cream. It’s based on that “Issues we care about” category on their website. Brands also appeal. It’s like when some boy or girl sees an appealing or attractive person from the opposite gender, they are likely to indulge and be infatuated. Likewise, brands appeal to people’s good dog to encourage the sales of the product.
So yes, brands and companies want to sell their product or service to millions of people, but they also have underlying objectives. If I were you, I’d be cautious or you might just be supporting the next Nazi take over by wearing a simple shirt.