It’s all about meaning – layers of meaning you would say, but with different expectations.
It’s like going to Shanghai. You are looking for new meanings; something that you hope will be some kind of original or have a solid meaning. I was happy when I found this bag – they selves on top of the actual store made it in the shop.
Suddenly you get the feeling that this is what meaning is about, finding some kind of source of what makes you believe. Here you could see the whole production line. But do we care about that? I do, but that has probably to do with my naïve belief that there is some kind of original. (I am very modernistic, not so postmodern perhaps.) Still after the era of branding I do not see the obvious reason why we are doing the branding stuff. But the customer in general are longing for it. But what do we mean when we are talking about brands? The original meaning is that has to do with communication of values that is connected to making money. I have no problem with that. The problem occurs when we use it on every thing that we do and that is what society is doing today. Branding has become the overall definition of everyday life. You brand even yourself. What is left? You sell everything that you have? Even your grandmother or? Another way of seeing it is that branding represent the relation between them and us. Branding has become the bridge that we use to define us in relation to others. In that sense branding is like a shelter that we can hide ourselves behind. It is perhaps not so much about showing who you are anymore? Instead it has become part of our language that we can use for different purposes. Or perhaps even that is not relevant anymore. In an interview with a chic Chinese girl in a weekend magazine in Shanghai she was saying that she believed more in faith or random destiny how come she bought a brand instead of being very strategic about her selection. Follow your intuition she said and do not look so much for the brand. With that type of shopping behavior I will be scared if you want to draw a branding strategy. But it sounds very healthy. But if you ask a Chinese who just has moved to Shanghai to make a living that would not be the case. For many of the branding is the key to rich heaven. Branding is the thing where you put your feet when you want to climb the status latter in society. In the end we are all in different need of branding. Sometimes you see something that reminds you that there is something that is not branding. But it is of course an illusion. Jasper Morrison doorbell reminds you of it – just plain design.
