Beware of Your Brand

When I was a kid, and staying at my grandparent’s house, my grandmother called down the stairs to my grandfather who was collecting something from his in-house art studio.

“Al, the toilet won’t stop running,” she told him.

We were about to go out and fixing the toilet was not on the to-do list, I’m sure. But it wasn’t that which surprised me. It was my grandfather’s reaction. He simply said, “Shit.”

I was devastated. My grandfather said the S word. I must’ve been between six and eight (he passed when I was eight) to be able to remember this so clearly. I have an older brother and there were many older kids on my block so I knew my share of curse words. However, it wasn’t the curse that floored me.

I’m sure my grandfather did things that he thought would have a lasting impression on me. I’m pretty sure he took me to the park, gave me ice cream, told me something profound, or gave me advice filled with wisdom. But none of that stuck. It was his curse that I remember. This story stuck with me for years before I finally realized why it contained any impact.

Pop-Pop cursed.

Up until that point in my life I saw my grandfather as a supernatural being capable of amazing feats, knower of all facts and keeper of all answers. He knew things my father didn’t know. He was mysterious and immortal… until he cursed. One word taught me that he was real and flawed, just like you and I.

If my grandfather could have been told that when he was dead and gone his youngest grandchild’s most vivid memory of him would be the day he said shit, I imagine he’d protest and opt for a different memory. But he got “shit.“

What does this have to do with branding? Everything.

A brand is a story that lives in the mind of the people who interact with you, your organization, or your company. When we think about personal or corporate branding, word-of-mouth marketing, and/or plain old trying to make an impression on someone, we tend to forget the child’s mind. We can never quite completely understand—or spend enough time trying to understand—the people in whom we are trying to make our brand a reality. No matter how hard we try to brand ourselves by looking and acting in a certain way, the truth always seeps through unexpectedly.

My grandfather did not tell me he was supernatural and amazing, I just thought that. Sometimes your customers, partners, children, or friends develop unreal expectations of you or your company. Sometimes it’s their fault for idolizing you and sometimes not.  Many companies, jobless hopefuls, and lonely singles will say just about anything to get a prospective customer/employer/suitor to bite. It’s not the bite that’s the problem—it’s the disappointing after-burn when the bubble containing the brand-fantasy gets burst.

In the case of my grandfather, I still loved him, possibly even more. But in the case of you or your business or organization, you might not get a second chance to live up to the fantasy that you painted. For those of you who leave branding up to someone else, beware. Could branding for who you want to be be more detrimental than branding for who you already are?

Remember that a brand is a story that lives in the minds of other people. Problem is, they might get so personal with your brand that they run away with it and make you into their god or guru. Don’t let them.

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