What is a “brand?”

When a symbolic representation is associated with the expectation of an experience, then you’ve got a brand.

Almost ten years ago, The Atlantic ran a story that claimed “a brand is the contract between a company and consumers.”

What a load of garbage that is.

A brand is the opposite of a contract. In fact, contracts are what traders use for specifying commodities, and because all commodities must conform to identical specifications, they are (by definition) without a brand.

Commodities markets depend on all #2 corn being the same. All gold is the same. All frozen orange juice futures are the same. The contract is what specifies the qualities to which each commodity must conform.

Which is why brands sell for a premium, compared to commodities.

In fact, the whole idea of a brand is to create an expectation in the mind of the consumer that transcends the contract. The implication is that the branded product provides an experience to the consumer that cannot be described in mere weights and measures.

And that’s worth paying for.