The Common Misunderstanding about Brands
I want to talk through a story about a guy who used to talk shit about brands. How brands are all made up, and they’re just labels that are put on products to make the ignorant, the stupid, the gullible believe that what they’re buying is some sort of great thing. But what this guy happens to showcase with that comment is actually his gullibility, his ignorance, his inability to understand what a brand really is.
The Essence of Real Brands
I’m going to explain what a brand is and why brands that are “brands”, real brands, are the reason when you buy something that is branded, you are literally buying the brand; you’re not buying anything other than the brand. You are not buying a product, but a brand.
So, that begs the question, what is a brand? What exactly makes a brand if it’s a brand and it’s not the product?
Product vs. Brand: A Critical Distinction
Well, let’s start by explaining the inverse of that: why a product in and of itself is not a brand. A product in and of itself is not a brand because a product is replicable. It’s what we in economic terms call fungible. It’s commoditized. One of it is the same as every other of it. Get it? Let me give you an example.
Money and Gold as Examples
The example I’ll give you is money. A dollar is a dollar; there’s no such thing as a branded dollar. But, in some ways, the brand of the USA making its dollar so powerful is a brand. But that’s a story for another day.
Let me give you an even simpler example of something that is a product and is fungible. Gold. Gold is gold, whether it’s a gold bar priced at $2,000 an ounce, whether you go to India, to Dubai, to London, or to New York to purchase it. It’s priced the same. It is the same. It is fungible.
The Transformation into a Brand
What if the gold happened to be an 18-carat Tiffany’s bracelet? That changes things, right? Because 18-carat Tiffany’s is exponentially more valuable than a bar of gold. That’s the brand. The tagging of the gold with the Tiffany’s insignia is not what made it into a brand. It’s the other way around, Tiffany’s makes the gold worth significantly more. So, you’re not ever buying the product, you’re always buying the brand. In fact, that is literally what makes a brand a brand, and not a product. Products are everywhere. You do not want to be in the business of selling a product. You want to be in the business of being a brand.
The Journey of Creating a Brand
So, the next phase, how do you create a brand? What do you do? What makes something a brand?
That is the essence of what life is. Life is a brand. The brand is the end result of the current time and narrative of a product that comes from your soul. Only your soul.
Personal Branding: More Than Just an Image
Think about yourself for a moment. Lots of people talk about being a personal brand. But, what is a personal brand?
A personal brand, one that scales, ones that really have value, the only ones that matter are the current end result of who you are in life, up to this point, and what you project to be going forward. That’s it. And if who you are isn’t special, and different, and uniquely you, nobody gives a shit. You’re a commodity. Don’t be a commodity.
The Power of a Personal Brand
So, if you’re posting some videos and shaking your booty, it’s not really a brand. Maybe for OnlyFans it is, but more likely than not, that kind of sounds commoditized, doesn’t it? But if you’re Tony Robbins and you have a life and a story and a history: he grew up poor, single mom, pulled himself out of the gutter, and now is one of the most influential people on Earth, well, that’s a brand. Special and unique and authentic is a brand. Everyone else is a commodity. Fungible versus brand.
The Unique Value of Product Brands
8 billion people. Most of whom are somewhat fungible and commoditized. One Tony Robbins, and that’s literally the same way it works for product brands. When someone says to me that an Hermès purse is just an Hermès purse, I think, “When you buy an Birkin bag, you’re buying 200 years of history. You’re buying the narrative of that company. You’re buying the prestige, not the dream of some narrative of wanting to be rich, but the dream of being that person that you want to be, and that is worth a premium.” Just like Tony Robbins is worth a premium. Because that story is built into that Hermès bag that you pick up in New York City on Madison Avenue and drop ten, twenty, thirty, fifty thousand dollars on. It’s that story of Hermès you’re buying. Not a purse.
Integrating Personal Narratives with Brands
But here’s a super cool thing. You’re actually that story and become part of the brand. The fact that you were able to buy that Hermès bag, the fact that you walked in to a store, and bought what you dreamt of…that’s the coolest thing in the world and the most special thing about brands. The reason people pay a premium for brands is because they’re not only buying the narrative of the actual brand, they’re building their own narrative, which is by far the most important narrative in the world.
The Significance of Your Journey
Think of the steps that you had to take to get to buy that Hermès bag, and that’s the power of the brand. It’s not just the brand’s story; it’s the twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years of your story, which is coupled with the fifty to a hundred years of your family’s story, which is coupled with the five to ten to twenty to five billion years of the Earth’s history. Really.
The Personal Impact of Brands
So when someone is buying a Rolex, a Bentley, a Tiffany’ ring, or an Hermès bag, it’s not the brand. But it’s the fact that you were now able to buy that brand.
Brands in Everyday Life
I have brands in my house right now that are very expensive bottles of turmeric. Five, ten-dollar bottles of turmeric. I could buy those exact bottles at some Indian grocery stores. I don’t. I buy the more expensive turmeric because of the story of the founder, and how her story as an Indian female in American echoes mone in some way. I buy the powerful story of what she created.
Brands as a Reflection of Humanity
It makes me realize as an Indian male who was born in India, who knows where turmeric comes from, what it is, and how it’s made. I get her story. I get her story because it’s my story; those are my people. That’s the brand I’m buying. Not her brand or my brand. Both.
Embracing the True Power of Brands
It’s the fact that my story is built in to her story so I’m willing to pay the premium, whatever their premium is, for that story.
That is the power of a brand. So anyone who tells you that brands are useless, that they’re commoditized, that they’re bullshit, is, in and of themselves, projecting what they are. Whatever that is. But brands are a part of humanity because they are humanity. They always have been.
All of us, everything is a brand.