Oct 13, 2024
Brand Building
How to brand anything | Youri Sawerschel | TEDxEHLLausanne
Summary
Brand Creation and Perception
Branding is the art and science of changing perception, acting as a magical power to transform ordinary objects into meaningful brands through the creation of a relatable story, community-focused name, and sophisticated visual identity.
A simple pen can become a symbol of a movement by incorporating unique features like recycled aluminum construction, a one-of-a-kind Swiss Renaissance red color, and sustainable ink capacity for 60,000 words.
Brand Elements and Impact
Effective branding creates anchoring points that can inspire an entire range of products and services, centered around a core idea such as inspiring people to think.
The transformation from object to brand occurs when it acquires a name, story, and identity, existing not just physically but in people's minds as a concept.
Brand Experience and Engagement
Enhancing the brand experience through complementary items like thinking cards with philosophical questions can stimulate creativity and reinforce the brand's core message of inspiring thought and ideas.
Timestamps
00:00 Branding is the art and science of changing perception, and by using this power, a random pen can be transformed into a meaningful brand.
01:20 We need to get creative and imagine a new pen brand because we don't write by hand as much anymore due to our reliance on screens.
02:08 Our reliance on technology to think and make decisions raises questions about our ability to think for ourselves and be independent thinkers.
03:32 We created "we the thinkers" to inspire people to reclaim their freedom of thinking and write their own path, because writing is thinking and the weirdest thinkers span is the ultimate thinking tool.
04:34 This pen is designed to inspire deep thinking and stand out as a symbol of recognition among free thinkers.
05:39 The cartridge holds sustainable ink for writing 60,000 words, and the reader thinkers pen comes with thinking cards to stimulate your ideas and can be sent to loved ones.
06:52 Creating a relatable and meaningful story, giving the product a community feel and a sense of belonging, and establishing a distinct visual identity can transform a simple product into a powerful symbol of a movement.
08:10 Create a range of products and services centered around inspiring people to think, such as a notebook, cafe, hotel, spa, and perfume, and even if all these were to be shut down, the brand would still exist in people's minds because it has a name, story, and identity.
Transcript
00:00 This is a pen with no name no story and no identity to tell you the truth. This is just a random pen that I bought during my last holidays and right. Now this pen has no power whatsoever to relate to you to your lives or to your aspirations. But I think I can change that I'm not really a magician but I know something very powerful. The way we value things depends on how we perceive them the way we value. Things depends on how we perceive them. The art and science of changing perception is called branding branding is a bit like a magical power and today I would love to show you this power by transforming this random pen into a meaningful brand.
01:20 For this to happen. We'll have to get a bit creative. We will have to imagine that I am the founder of a pen company presenting to you a new pen brand all right. Let's do this hey guys do you still recognize the handwriting of your colleagues of your friends or even of your parents. The sad truth is that we spend so much time on our screens that we almost don't write by hands anymore.
02:08 We use emojis to communicate our emotions. We rely on autocorrect to take responsibility for our mistakes and we let predictive text right on our behalf. What does this say of our ability to think thinking is what makes us human. It's how we grow. It's how we learn. It's how we create relationships with each other. But if our devices are telling us what to write. Next are we still thinking if we stop thinking. Advertising tells us what to buy our car tells us where to go. Our smart watch tells us how many steps we should work every day. Our social media feed tells us who to vote for we can be better than that.
03:32 We can challenge the algorithm. We can rediscover our inner voice and most importantly we can reclaim our freedom of thinking. This is why we created we the thinkers pan in hand. Our mission is simple to give the power of thinking back to the people we the thinkers was born to inspire you you and you to think and write your own path and there's no better way to think than to write writing is thinking and the weirdest thinkers span is the ultimate thinking tool when you are writing. Your thinking occurs at the same time.
04:34 There's no lag no notification. No pop-up window no distraction whether you're writing a shopping list a love letter or manifesto. We the thinkers inspires you to think even when you're not thinking about thinking and talking about thinking. There's some serious thinking that went behind the crafting of this pen. It is made using a single piece of recycled aluminum and it features a one-of-a-kind swiss. Renaissance. Red this way it stands out. It stands out on your desk. It stands out on your kitchen counter. It stands out in your bag making it a sign of recognition among free thinkers.
05:39 The cartridge holds enough sustainable ink for you to write 60 000 words that's by the way enough for all of you to finish this long overdue novel. Finally the reader thinkers pen comes in a beautiful case with a set of thinking cards. Each card features a philosophical question to stimulate your thinking and if your ideas are worth spreading just put a stamp on the card and send it to your loved ones. So if you're ready to think again get yourself a weedy thinkers spend today on we the thinkers dot world end of story.
06:52 What did we just see our random. Pen now has a reason for being how did we achieve that first we created a story a story that is both relatable and meaningful a story in which the pen is the hero second. We give our hero a name a name that communicates a community feel and a sense of belonging third. We give our hero a face in the form of a visual identity a distinct visual identity that is both sophisticated and bold as a result. The pen is not just a product. It's the symbol of a movement a movement with a powerful yet simple anchoring points inspiring people to think and now comes the beauty of it.
08:10 We can use these anchoring points to create an entire new range of products and services all centered around the idea of inspiring people to think. In addition to the pen we could have a we the thinkers notebook to write down your thoughts and from here we could have a weed thinkers cafe to exchange ideas why not opening a wider thinkers hotel and spa to unplug and free your minds and I think from here by not having a weird thinker's perfume to stimulate your thoughts at the center. The reader thinkers brand stands on its own because it goes beyond products and services. At this stage we must ask ourselves one question one last question what if what if we the thinker was to shut down closing its cafes and hotels withdrawing from the shelf the notebook and the perfume even stopping the production of the pen would we the thinkers still exist of course. It would it would still exist but this time in your mind in a way. The branding magic has occurred because this pen has a name a story and an identity. This is no longer a pen. This is now a brand you.
