A Brand is a set of values.

Don’t be confused. You, the consumer, are the product of branding.

In the same way that smiling can make you feel happier after about 20 seconds, or how action can precede motivation and even thought, the act of buying tells you something about yourself. Namely, it’s telling you that you are the sort of person that buys X.

Your brand loyalty is part of these aspects of you. From the monolithic “I’m a Ford man” to the far more subtle tendency to buy local, or naturally sourced, or Non-GMO, your consumer choices define you to yourself.

In this sense, the brand is not only a story that is never directly told but known by the consumer, it is the story about the consumer that they know instinctively. Incidentally, a consumer doesn’t even have to spend money on the product to participate in branding. Not buying X is a way of telling the story about yourself to yourself, too. By not buying you are either actively rejecting the brand or having to go without. In either case, the branding is further solidified as either a “not me” brand or a “someday me” brand.

If you want to make everyone happy, don’t be a leader, sell ice cream”.

– Steve Jobs