What is a brand?

The late Yasmin Ahmad had written a superb article on what is a brand. And I believe she had applied it in building Petronas. 

If you would like to read her article, just click here. 

However, allow me to indulge you on what is a brand. In layman terms of course. 

1. A brand must have a personality.

If you are not interesting, then why would people want to listen to you? And that goes the same for brands too. A brand that lacks personality will fail. Because people are only attracted to the unique and interesting. Further proof would be Winston Churchill, Yasmin Ahmad, Gandhi, the Yellow man and etc. etc. 

2. A brand must be human.

Robots are boring. They are too mechanical and they won't care if you are bleeding to death. Brands are not robots. They shouldn't be in the first place. They need to understand, adhere, nurture and care for their customers. That's how you keep the business rolling. Brands gotta learn how to love. Love is the most powerful force. It makes you do things without thinking twice. Like buying that cool car that you know will cost you a bomb and a lifelong of poverty. 

3. A brand must have principles. 

Like a Samurai, who lives by the code, so does a brand. Without it, a brand will drown in the sea of mediocre brands. Brands like Nike, Apple, Adidas and Petronas, to name a few, live by a set of principles. And those principles belong to the visionary of the company - the big boss. Not the lowly kucirats or senior assholes but the big boss himself. Only he can steer the direction of where the brand is going. And geared with his principles, his brand will go far. Just look at Richard Branson. 

Well, I hope those three points helped. In fact, I would like to add one summarisation from all these three points. And that is a BRAND SHOULDN'T BE BORING. A brand can be corporate but not boring. A brand can be funny but not boring. It is the most important summary of this article.