Perception, Abstraction, and Brand Identity

One elementary quality that distinguishes the human mind from that of animals is in its ability to construct meaning.  Our perception and our memory are mechanisms by which we survive.  We do not react automatically by the superficial appearances of things – but instead we distinguish food from poison, threat from opportunity, and friend from foe by the use of our perception and memory

Our perception and memory are generally reliable – but at times they can lead us astray.   The greater the complexity of our situation, the more likely we will make mistakes, sometimes serious ones, by applying overly simplistic reasoning.   But it would be equally simplistic to assume that emotions overthrow the rules of logic.  Perception can be limited, and logic can be fallacious, but belief is inherently based on a rational process.

Abstract thinking can also tend to lead us astray – because an abstraction is based on a subjective assessment of what qualities are the most important.  Compare any sketch or drawing to the actual object, and you will quickly notice which features the artist considered to be significant and which he chose to ignore in creating his representation.

Abstractions are also not necessarily reductive – many can be additive.   Consider the tendency to anthroporphize things.   When we project thoughts and emotions onto animals, objects, organizations, and other non-human phenomena, we are adding to our beliefs based on things that are entirely imaginary.

In the same way, a “brand” was originally a mark burned onto an object to indicate its owner or maker.   The brand is a kind of mental abstraction – meant to represent something in minimal detail, in which we have ignored many of the actual qualities and added other attributes that are based on oru own imagination.

Brand exists in the mind of the customer, not the maker. Certainly, the maker wants customers to believe certain things about their brand and wishes to influence the way in which it is perceived.  But actual experience will override anything a brand had to say about itself.  A brand may claim to be high-quality, but our experience of it may suggest otherwise – as well as the reportage of others who claim to have experience.  

The maker is an external voice, suggesting what customers ought to think of his brand – but ultimately, customers decide for themselves, and they do so based on abstraction drawn from their limited and skewed perception.