Brand building is a process of creating magic

© Gennady Kireev - 123RF.com

Magic is surprising. You want to see it over and over again. And again. Magic is delightful, so much so that you want to see it over and over again. Magic is curious.

“Art is not intellectual. Add intelligence to it, and you mess it up”

The irony is that the measurement for success in our industry is primarily predicated on logical criteria. A campaign by an automotive brand is launched, cars don’t sell, and the campaign by default is captured as a failed effort.

Additionally, ironic, nobody is in the business for now – all businesses are intended to outlast generations – and yet, objectives are short-term and results need to be immediate. We want to sell now. Building a brand is a process of magic. It turns tangible ideas into emotionally charged ideals which help sell the tangible. “Sell” your brand and people will buy your products.

When building a brand, or as we have established, creating magic, there is no room for the ordinary, the expected nor the bland. You need to surprise, delight and evoke strong emotions that draw people towards you. People need to feel the need to want your brand consistently over your competitors. People should be drawn towards your brands. They should be thinking and talking about your brand without you prompting them with advertising. What do you call it when people talk about brands that aren’t advertising regularly? It’s called magic.

Does it give you goosebumps?

Clients and agencies; the next time your strategist presents a strategy or their thinking for a new or desired brand direction, if it doesn’t feel like magic, it probably isn’t.

Ask yourself: In anything that you are doing for your brand, does it give you goosebumps just thinking about? If the answer is “no” or “I don’t know”, then you are missing the greatest opportunity to be phenomenal and unforgettable. Who is the greatest escape magician? You know why? He didn’t just do magic, he did what no-one else could do.

Houdini was an ordinary magician when he started. He was doing what most magicians were doing. It is no wonder that we don’t know nor remember those magicians. We know of Houdini, because he decided to do and perfect what no-one else dared to do, and became an escape magician, performing what seemed like potentially fatal stunts. In more occasions; he almost died to be magical.

Make your brand the Houdini of its category. Dare to be magical with your brand. Create magic. If you don’t, your brand will die a slow agonizing death of sameness. Be different. Be unique. Magic is unexpected but appreciated. As a brand, be unexpected, make people want you more, and appreciate you.