There is a school of thought that defines a brand as a promise. Or an expectation. That thinking has always resonated with me.
Lately I've been thinking about that expectation and realize that it is based on all past experiences with the brand (perhaps the category). Said another way, the brand becomes your collective memory of past interactions.
That memory could be from advertising, word of mouth, actual use, observed, etc. All those interactions have functional and emotional dimensions....and consequences. It's all in the mental blender and part of what comes to mind and heart when you think of a brand.
When we inherit stewardship of a brand, we inherit all the memories...good and bad and absent. And for me...when I think about memories, I think about FEELINGS (cue Morris Albert http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRaI7ZOmTr4 )
How does a memory make me feel? (Remember the old adage about speeches? They won't remember what you said, they will remember how you made them feel?)
As a marketer I think a lot about the present and future of brands. But doesn't the future begin in the past?
So I'm wondering, what do they remember about my brands? How do those memories make them feel? Whatever message they see from us today...it will have to climb through those memories, those feelings.
If they don't have a specific memory of the brand...what will they pull from to set context? To judge. To decide. Category memories? The last time they tried a new product? What do we want to attach our memories to?
Brand reputation or equity is a phrase I have thrown around loosely, lately its taken a deeper importance when I think of it as a memory.
It's hard to change a memory.
