The New Brand Narrative
// Let’s rethink what a brand means today.
In a culture like ours, long accustomed to splitting and dividing all things as a means of control, it is sometimes a bit of a shock to be reminded that, in operational and practical fact, the medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium — that is, of any extension of ourselves — result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.(McLuhan 7)
This is a manifesto written by a marketer for a marketer in all of us. It’s a request to rethink, reimagine and repurpose the entity that we call — the brand.
In my humble opinion, the future of brand is in a state of volatility. It started as an extension of an ego. An ego so strong that it had ability to dictate certain behaviors, traits and lifestyles. Unfortunately, lately it has become a less meaningful entity.
An entity that can be easily outsourced, competed with, replaced with or disconnected from. For a good reason — because it has become selfish, shallow and self-serving. It lacks a real purpose. It lacks a real movement.
It is no surprise that the global diaspora of social web has brought us back together as a community — where we are more multi-dimensional, connected and transparent in our engagements. We are flocking towards smaller and truer movements — from our local coffee shop to supporting our kickstarter campaigns ( Last year, more than 3 million people pledged $480 million to Kickstarter projects, successfully funding 19,000 of them ) that disrupt the big and the bad.
This has been tough on the brands. Especially large ones. Our businesses are being challenged to redefine themselves to matter more and control less. The current digital medium forces brands to adapt and be part of this constantly evolving movement of redefinition.
I am currently thinking about this as I write this post. As I lead our re-branding efforts with my esteemed colleagues at Extreme Networks. I am challenging our teams, our friends, our partners to help us figure out what we really do that adds value into our unique worlds. My world. Your world. My customer’s world. Even our competition’s world.
Brand needs a true meaning. It cannot be just about crafty tagline, brandmark or use of the right aesthetics. It is not all about what we sell and service. It is more than that. It is a service.
What it stands for should be translatable in various multi-channels we all operate within. In the past, the brand guidelines were tactical and practical enough to help marketers control the meaning in various forms and factors but that’s no longer the case.
Today’s brand needs to become part of this omnichannel medium which is real time, adaptive and responsive. Thus, a brand has to be a living, breathing and ‘maturing’ human organism.
So I ask my fellow marketers to hear my story. Can a brand in the age of social web truly become part of the medium and transcend beyond its traditional form? Can it have a meaningful impact on its ecosystem?
Can it embrace the form of the medium — which is social, collaborative and open.
Maybe the upcoming collaborative economy is a indication of it this urge of the common man to be more sharing, be more caring and ultimately more meaningful. Or maybe its just a temporary answer to a long standing urge to matter more as a human being.
With that being said, we have opened up our branding effort to our community. We are letting the community help define us at http://VoteExtreme.com
Bilal Jaffery is the head of digital strategy at Extreme Networks.
