People have often asked why I chose "Mythology" as the name for my company and this blog. Douglas Holt, L'Oreal Chair of Marketing at Oxford Marketing, delivers probably the best summation of the trend underpinning iconic brand development in the post-modern era. This is a description on the HBR web site (NOTE: to download the article requires a fee):
Some brands become icons. Think of Nike, Apple, Harley-Davidson: They're the brands every marketer regards with awe. But they are not built according to the principles of conventional marketing, says Harvard Business School marketing professor Douglas Holt. Iconic brands beat the competition not just by delivering innovative benefits, services, or technologies but by forging a deep connection with the culture. A brand becomes an icon when it offers a compelling myth, a story that can help people resolve tensions in their lives.
The most powerful myth that drives iconic brands, writes Holt, is that of the rebel (hence Mountain Dew's alignment with the slacker, Harley Davidson's alignment with the Hell's Angels, or Apple's alignment with the anti-establishment creatives, etc.).
I highly recommend Holts' book How Brands Become Icons from HBR Press. The rebel myth may not translate for every brand-building scenario. Although "St. Mary's Hospital...it's us against disease" does sound a little plucky doesn't it...I think I might like that in a healthcare insitution.
Comments