Let’s start with what a brand even is. The American Marketing Association defines it as: “A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.” Sounds like a logo. Or a colour palette. But for most of us, it’s bigger than that. It’s how something feels. The gut reaction. The visual memory. The shortcut in a customer’s mind. I see it less as a set of rules & more as a compass. Your brand isn’t the police - it’s a suggestion of where to walk. You can follow it with discipline, but you need to allow the terrain to change.
I’m all for design systems. You want your logo legible. You want consistency. But not at the cost of evolution. The world changes. So should you. Branding should be flexible. Nietzsche said it best: “The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.”
Still, you might ask - what’s the point?
If your business will never be Louis Vuitton or Coca-Cola, why even try? Legacy brands have heritage baked into their fabric. You can’t skip those decades. Christopher Hitchens once wrote, “You can’t make old friends.” Branding is old friendship. Recognition built over time. A shorthand that breeds trust.
Sure, every day a thousand new businesses launch. Cafes, boutiques, SaaS tools, florists, t-shirt drops. Most will fail. Not because the idea was bad. But because there’s too much noise. They never got seen. Never got remembered. Not enough people knew their name. Their product could've been amazing too! The billboards in Times Square are a great example. Once upon a time, George Lois could launch Tommy Hilfiger into public consciousness with one billboard. But now? There are 200+ billboards, just in Times Square - & they move. Each space rotates thousands of graphics. Then there's phones everywhere. You'll be in the background of many selfies but it won't add much.
Branding now is omni-channel.
You’ve got to be across Instagram & TikTok, maybe Pinterest, probably LinkedIn. Add in Google, your website, email newsletters, UGC, influencer content, your packaging, your in-store displays. There are more touchpoints than ever - & they all matter. That kind of reach costs money. Which is why the richest brands keep winning. If you own the logistics, the margins, the supply chain? You can drown out the rest. The small brands are boxed out before they even get on the shelf.
Take beer in Australia. Coles & Woolies are considered monopolies in supermarkets, which they are - but collectively they're about 68% of the market. In beer, it’s Kirin & Asahi. They own nearly 90% of the market. Which means your new lager’s got little chance unless it’s different - a gluten-free brew, a hyperlocal story, or a cult following. Peter Thiel (who might be a villain, but knows business) says there are two real types of companies: monopolies & startups. If you’re not the first, or the only, you’re stuck fighting for scraps. You need brand.
You can’t build equity like Toyota overnight. But you can build resonance. You can be memorable. You can own a space in someone’s head. If you find the 20% that love what you do, you’ll never need the other 80. That’s why branding matters.
Especially in the AI age. Search is getting weird. The answers are often summaries. Or AI dropdowns. Or paid ads. Ask for a basketball shoe & you’ll get Nike, Adidas, Under Armour. Ask for the best basketball shoe & you’ll get more of the same. But ask for Converse? Now you’re getting branded search.
That’s the goal.
Marketing should be built around getting your name in people’s heads. It should aim to shift you from anonymous to familiar. Not overnight. But with consistency. Branding isn't a coat of paint. It's reputation. It's recall. It's the easiest path back to you. So no, branding isn't dead. It's the only thing keeping you alive.
