We (really) need a new word for brand

I wrote a manifesto a few years ago – it was called “We need a new word for brand.” Back then the title was a ruse, a way to lead into the point that what we really need is a new understanding of what brand really is.

Well, it’s been five years and we still need a new word for brand. Only this time it isn’t a ruse. Brand has become hopelessly polluted. Co-opted by everyone from marketing, advertising and design to business consultants and commentators alike.

It’s not a company anymore.

Now it’s the brand does this, the brand says that. It’s the brand that has made a mistake, or reaped a gain. Like some strange disembodied monster lumbering around with no relationship or visible ties to anything else.

It’s lunacy and it really has to stop, but I fear the “brand” horse has bolted. So we really do need a new word – well at least for what I call brand… where “it” is the result of keeping your promises and doing, saying and thinking in alignment with your values and purpose across your whole organisation.

What do we call that?

I’m serious here. Because brand just isn’t cutting it anymore and one of the few alternatives – “Lovemarks” as proposed by Kevin Roberts – long passed its expiration date.

So while I mull through available options and channel my inner Lewis Carroll in search of a totally new word, I guess the suggestion of my manifesto will have to do.

Let’s call it “Bob”…

See you next week.

Michel Hogan is an independent Brand adviser and advocate. Through her work with Brandology here in Australia and in the United States she helps organisations make promises they can keep and keep the promises they make, with a strong sustainable brand as the result. She also publishes the Brand thought leadership blog – Brand Alignment. You can follow Michel on Twitter @michelhogan.