Beyond Perception: The Revolutionary Future of Branding

What exactly is a brand? This question might seem simple, but it opens up a world of complexity. This article aims to explore this depth, offering a forward-thinking effort that examines our understanding of branding. Once we settle this matter, we may discover new, innovative practices.

We often use the word ‘brand’ without pausing to consider its true meaning. Traditionally, a ‘brand’ is thought of as the mark in consumers’ minds about a product or service, akin to branding cattle. It represents personal perceptions—yours, mine, and hers. However, recent philosophical and psychological studies challenge this simplistic view.

If a brand is purely internal, how is it connected to an external product or service? And if it's internal, how can it also be mutual, shared among many? We are not just aware of our perception of a brand but also its public opinion.

ChatGPT offers an illuminating definition: a brand is an integrated concept where tangible elements (logos, products, services) and intangible aspects (perceptions, emotions, experiences) work together to create a coherent identity. This identity sets a brand apart from its competitors and builds a relationship with its audience.

This definition sets the stage for our exploration. A brand is not just internal but communal, existing both inside us and outside in the world. It is "In-vironmental"—simultaneously internal and external, physical and virtual, emotional and informative.

Let’s dive deeper. A brand is a designed heterotopic plane, a frame through which we see ourselves, others, and things in relation to an idealistic entity connected to physical items and ideas. A brand is a constellation that brings together many contradicting aspects. It is internal and external, personal and objective—everything at once and nothing in isolation.

A brand is an engineered frame, focusing more on how we see rather than what we see. It's not about the product or our perception alone but about the interplay of our perceptions and the product. It’s a designed lens that shapes our view without being the object of our view.

A brand is an ecstatic contextual event, not existing independently but illuminating everything else while remaining subtextual and inexpressible. We are immersed in products and services seen through branded environments but often overlook these environments themselves. We see products but miss the virtual constellations projecting them. Spellbound by the show, we fail to notice the brand as the puppeteer behind the scenes.

In this light, branding can be seen as unethical, imposing an engineered gaze on things, often distorting their authentic meaning and origins. However, exploring this ethical dimension is beyond the scope of this article.

Viewing a brand as an engineered gaze opens up new marketing possibilities. Brands can extend beyond their current scope, offering lifestyles, ideologies, aesthetics, music, worldviews, and more—anything that can be seen through a branded lens.

If marketing battles were once about branding consumers' minds, they are now about occupying spaces. Future marketing conflicts won't just be about winning over consumers' hearts and minds but about dominating virtual frames, designed with specific syntax. This aligns with the basic human tendency to gather under broad, unifying ideas, much like forming national identities.