The brand and society

Can you imagine a world without brands? Well, think about the UK before the dawn of the 20th century or even countries such as Russia not too many decades ago, where society was denied all the benefits of brands, and from those images, we can perhaps gain an insight into their value.

The most obvious contribution is that of choice. Brands, driven by competition, strive to best produce exactly what the consumer needs, resulting in a choice of products from which the buyer can choose.

Competition encourages diversity. As consumers’ needs evolve, so brands have to do the same to meet these new needs. The only constraint is economic viability.

Some brands also manage to tap into the emotions of a consumer, so your choice of clothes, car, bank or food says something about you because of the values the brand represents. This statement of self-expression is under the control of the individual and not the brand.

Over the past century, brands have had a fundamental impact on society in areas such as the quality of life and the time available to us. A good example is the necessary chore of washing clothes. In the early 1900s, Monday was "wash day" and washing literally took all day. Heating water in the copper, mixing soap paste, pounding and scrubbing clothes, rinsing and putting the clothes through the mangel was a time-consuming and exhausting process. Brand innovations in machinery, detergents and conditioners have replaced this drudgery with a 45-minute (unattended) washing machine cycle.