Explaining Brand Communications to a very brilliant teenager.

Yesterday, I got into a chat with my mentor’s daughter, who was looking to choose what she would study at the University.

She was considering communications, and after I told her that I do Brand Communications, she went, what does that mean?

I wanted to explain what I do in a very simple way to this brilliant teenager and so I went:

“I help people make choices of the brands they want to work with or use.”

And I explained how a lot of the choices we make are a product of either societal expectations or subconscious biases, especially when it comes to the things we spend our money on. And the higher you go up that spending prism, the more intangible the reasons get, even though they cost tangible dollars.

Then, it struck me; this explanation is golden.

First, you build a brand — that mental picture that people expect from you when they interact with you based on what they have seen, heard, or experienced.

Then, you consistently communicate what that brand stands for in service, product, experiences, feeling, expectations and value.

Afterward? You spend a lifetime understanding the people you serve, so you can connect and serve them well, especially if you are not on the list of things people need to survive. It is crazy, but at the core, even though several moving parts keep the engine running, brand communications build a strong image that makes it easy for people to choose you over and over again.

It can include design (visual, product, experience etc), marketing communications, CSR, work culture, customer service, quality of product, and a whole lot. And understanding how to leverage existing thoughts, biases, primordial behaviours, and a lot more to carve a niche in the minds of your target audience are the things you try to tackle with brand communications.

Communication mainly occurs when there is a sense of shared context. Hence, you are doing a better job of reaching people when you can connect to something they already connect with. And that’s how some of the biggest brands in the world have scaled over time.

Time for a little practical illustration before I finish this sprint writing. Think of your favourite brands or the things you spend good money on; there is a bit of “How they come across” or how “Society positions them to look on you” or how “Perception of value” or how “expectation based on “Shared values” that affect why you love them.

Don’t you think so?

*This was a writing sprint. But I love how this came out and so, I may just do some more reading and expand the context, subsequently.