“Simmering content – rich in variety and riddled with idiosyncrasies – is obscured by the catchy one-liner coined by brand consultants…isn’t it better not to bother with the subject matter of an event at all when promoting it? Instead why not just chant the values of the organisation that it brings to people? Surely we all engage with a subject because we are familiar and trusting of the organisation that brings it to us?...why bother referring to content at all when people respond much better to the branded message?” (Bell, 2004, p.23-4)
Metaphors, metaphors, metaphors…
Under the advice of a fellow student, I read Nick Bell’s article in the Eye Magazine titled The Steam Roller of Branding, and it was insightful to revisit such an article that points out that “some corporate identities exist in spite of what a company or organisation produces, and in direct contradiction to the way it behaves.” (2004, p.20) Metaphorically speaking, branding is a brand in itself, does it not contradict itself in a way? It anticipates our basic and spiritualistic needs and sells ideas, encouraging affiliation through their products by highlighting aspirations through familiar metaphorsI presented my ideas in the Final Project Presentations yesterday, and the feedback was sound; the tutors and fellow peers alike provided questions to ponder on this weekend which I had otherwise omitted during the thinking for the output; one particular question which was raised by a fellow student did make me realise how immersed into this project I was, almost to the point of not remembering the other campaigns that already exist under the sea of brands and branding: “If you are creating something through all the clutter, how do you get people to notice it?”It’s getting closer to the time where the outcome has to be finalised and get on with the report writing, I feel less prepared than ever, but have certainly gained more of an understanding of the psychology behind branding and its effects on consumers; the use of familiar metaphors relevant to our time through a narrative, like fairytales, provide a sense of affiliation between ourselves and the overall brand itself through their products. It is like a medicine that can cure our needs, that have long been merged with our inner-spiritualistic desires in this materialistic world. This is a real-world form of escapism, where brands utilise their products and the market to provide this escape from the realistic thoughts, to be lost within their metaphors that makes you become affiliated to it, through a visual narrative. Over time, as consumers become susceptible to this method of escapism, the psychological high that one can get from purchasing could be explained like the following:
- Consumers use brand (Use)
- Consumers become dependent (Abuse)
- Consumers begin to depend on it (Dependency)
- Consumers purchase more as they become more susceptible (Increased Dosage)
Of course that is the most superficial description on how it works; if I was to expand on it, and providing it with more materialistic context:
- Consumers use brands (Use);
- Consumer becomes increasingly dependent on it; more has to be purchased in order to refill that intensity and psychological high (Abuse and dependency);
- Over time, consumers become bored of the brand (Susceptibility) and seeks elsewhere for an alternative high;
- Brand itself lose their consumers and creates new products, providing an external set of metaphors that will ensure they are newer, better, stronger and importantly, fresher than before for the consumer (Disillusionment);
- Consumers learn of new brand, and returns to previous brand (Relief control); other brand amends their image;
- Repeat cycle.
From that analogy above, if that context was placed within the context of brand terrorism, then consumers would be so spoilt for choice, causing more purchasing and more hoarding of brands; it’s no wonder that compulsive consumers exist!
Would the cycle be broken?With time issues, there is not much space left to research further into the relationship between branding and how it presents metaphorically as a medicine for consumers, but can I utilise that metaphor to create an outcome? More importantly, as questioned during the presentation:
How does it affect individuals?
What do you want the audience to take out from this outcome?
How do you raise awareness of your stance as a result of your research from the outcome?One soldiers on.Bibliography
Bell, N (2004) The Steam-Roller Of Branding. Eye Magazine. 14 (53), 18-28.
