Time to burst the bubble of overstated brand talk

‘We have to walk the brand, not only talk the brand. Our clients will judge us on that basis’. This is taken out of a speech that was given by the vice-chairman of one of the largest financial companies in the world.

When someone of his stature is talking like this, it’s time to sit back and reflect a little – does he have any idea what he is saying?

Has all the brand talk used by the industry that needs to generate belief in its value, and which experts in the industry take with a pinch of salt, infiltrated the world boardrooms?

It seems so. And it’s pitiful to see otherwise intelligent, sharp corporate warriors stupidly repeating what they have been told, or worse still, what they have heard somewhere without going through their own intelligence filters first.

Accompanying the economic bubble of the past decade has been the brand bubble, in which we have been told everything from no logo to brand is everything. And now we’ve got these boardroom people repeating these things to whoever is willing to listen – that is not many people and certainly not the people who work for them.

Identity is important, and it is something that needs to be taken care of – but it will not fill the gaps left by lack of vision, lack of purpose, lack of depth, or any other bits of missing matter.

Repercussions of the economic bubble have not bottomed out yet and repercussions of the brand bubble haven’t even started.

Jim Waters

Co-founder and creative director

Minale Tattersfield Design Strategy

Neuilly-sur-Seine, France

jwaters@minaledesignstrategy.fr