Imagining the brands of tomorrow

Have you ever wondered how the constant bombarding of messaging and pushy marketing that we live with every day came to be? Marketing as we know it today not only created but continues to exponentially fuel the consumption economy.

I should know. I spent 20 years working as a marketing professional in big multinationals. We excelled in pandering to consumer needs and creating additional desire. The measure of success was the growth rate of our brands, every year, expanding the market and increasing consumption.

How it all started

It was in the 1920s that a man named Edward Bernays, who was Sigmund Freud’s nephew, invented the use of PR to promote products.

He became fascinated by his uncle’s theories on unconscious desires and realized that, by linking products to images and symbols, brands could tap into those unconscious desires that Freud had identified to sell many more products.

This created a shift from a needs-based culture to a desires-based culture. A culture which promises us that we can buy our way to happiness, success and fulfillment.

It is a clever way to run the economy, but as most of us know, the promise of such fulfilment remains unattainable. As humans, we will always want more. Chasing the next goal in the hopes that reaching that next dream will finally fulfill our desires. But we never seem to reach the final destination.

Since Edward Bernays created this desires-based marketing, it has become a powerful tool which is used carelessly. In just one century, we have created a monster.

And so we live in a consumption economy. A constant chase for more.

And with it, the catastrophic climate and social challenges that we are now facing.

Today’s world is a new world

Over the past 3 years, we have lived through Black Lives Matter, the Covid pandemic, a war breaking out in Ukraine, a food and energy crisis and increasing numbers of climate induced disasters, leading to rising inequalities and social unrest. And it won’t stop there. This is the world that we live in today.

As Albert Einstein famously said:

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

If we want to create a sustainable economy, we can’t just use the same marketing tools that are used to fuel the consumption economy. We must fundamentally rethink how we build and market our brands for purpose.

Marketing today is about short-term growth tactics, mass media and promotions to appeal to the masses.

But if we know that marketing has the power to tap into inner feelings and desires, imagine the possibilities if we used it to shift beliefs and consumption behaviours to more sustainable and prosperous ways of living.

It’s time for us to wake up to this new reality.

Building the brands of tomorrow

Instead of aspiring to an unattainable vision of success, in which we are constantly chasing never-ending growth, we need to redefine what success and fulfilment truly mean.

Instead of qualifying product offers that appeal to the masses to grow market size and increase consumption, we need to innovate beyond the existing paradigms, to bring new, sustainable solutions.

Instead of diluting our communication to please, we need to stand boldly in our difference and start new conversations that evolve society.

This is how we build the brands of tomorrow. Creating deep connections with those who believe what we believe and starting movements of positive change to create a new world, in which prosperity exists for all.