the human brand theory booklet 1

THE HUMAN BRAND THEORY

A New Paradigm for

Contemporary Brand

Success

Andre Le Roux and Thys de Beer

BOOK 1

THE HUMAN BRAND THEORY© Page 1

INTRODUCTION

____________________________________________

It all started with the story of an apple.

Story telling is part of who we are as human

beings. Through story telling great truths and

learnings are passed on from one generation to

the next. Story telling is used to demystify

complex concepts and ideas. We use stories to

engage with each other, to in one short

paragraph communicate multiple meanings about

ourselves in order to hopefully create a

desired perception about ourselves with others.

A great example of such a story is of how Sir

Isaac Newton “discovered” gravity when an apple

fell on his head. In one swift moment the world

changed, as someone brilliant had a moment of

insight. Since then, we have been telling this

story and our world has truly changed.

That moment was so significant that it never

appeared in Newton’s official biography. We

would only read about this world changing event

11 years after Newton’s death, or 70 years

after the event was said to have happened.

There were of course no real eye witnesses to

the event.

In one small story, so many truths are revealed


about us as human beings. In one brief story we

are not only explained the theory of gravity,

but also the brilliance of Sir Isaac Newton. It

could have been any object that fell, a piece

of paper, a leaf or even Newton himself, but

the author or creator of this story chose an

apple. The very fruit which of course landed us

all in so much trouble in the Garden of Eden,

when Eve plucked the apple from the forbidden

tree of knowledge.

Immediately it elevates the brilliant Newton

even further and places him in the realm of a

modern day Prometheus, who stole the fire from

the gods and gave it to man. If you know the

history of Sir Isaac Newton, this glorification

is something that he would have utterly

enjoyed.

In this story, lies the seeds and inspiration

for the Human Brand Theory©. This little book

is about showing you how Brands and Brand

Strategy is not as one dimensional as what you

may think. There are multiple meanings and

truths that are hidden in every story and most

of the time, those hidden meanings are very

cleverly inserted to do one thing – to plant a

very small seed of meaning and perception.


THE DREAM

________________________________________

Just like a good story, dreams are universal to

all of us. We all have dreams and some men and

women have greater dreams than others. Just

like stories, our dreams have multiple levels

and meanings, but one thing remains true, it is

our dreams that drive us.

The Human Brand Theory© has a very simple

dream:

“To help Brands achieve their dreams in the

ever changing Brand world, through being more

relevant, more engaging, more people focused

and authentic.”

Our dream is not to write and propose the next

Principia Mathematica of Brand Strategy, but

rather to propose a simple holistic model of

how to consistently build Brand success in a

crazy, contemporary (Brand) world.

This is the story of how to build more human

Brands.


THE WHY OF THE HUMAN BRAND THEORY©

________________________________________

Not long before Newton, men were literally

burnt at the stake for challenging and thinking

differently about accepted norms and theories.

Thinking differently requires bravery, and we

believe that the Brand building industry is in

dire need of some brave, challenging thinking.

In the past 100 years we have seen a massive

amount of change in regards to how people think

about Brands and Brand Building. Brands have

gone from being seen as an identifying device,

to a device of competitive differentiation, to

an emotive engagement platform, to even being

described as a feeling and social promise

between consumer and Brand.

The truth of the matter is that Brand Strategy

has become complex, as the world we live in is

rapidly changing and evolving. There are more

competition, more exposure, everything is out

in the open and everybody is connected. The old

methods of Brand building are no longer working

and as a result, we, the industry, have had to

change our thinking about how to build Brands.

In light of all this change, trend analysts and

major Brand thinkers are calling for the

development of more Human Brands.


The very constructs we use to define

contemporary Brand success are very human

constructions. A Brand needs to have ideals,

needs to have a soul or essence, it needs to

build meaning over time, it needs to have a

stable identity, build relationships and above

all else, it needs to tell stories.


The argument holds that if Brands need to be

more human, then we need to have a system to

develop more Human Brands that helps Brands to

answer to these modern Brand needs.

This might seem a bit simpler than what it

looks like. Brand Strategy is in a bit of a

bind, as it is a field that pulls from three

theoretical sources: Marketing Theory, Brand

Theory and Consumer Behaviour which in itself

pulls theory from Psychology and Sociology. The

problem is that all of these theories live

apart from each other and not as one global

system.

No wonder people view Brand Strategy as being

complex, and in a modern world where people are

striving for simplification, they are striving

for the simplification of Brand Development.

Simply put, the Human Brand Theory© is a Brand

Building Methodology that tries to incorporate

the effective theoretical constructs of all the

Brand building disciplines into one system, in

order to help us build more Human Brands that

tell great stories and that resonate with

people.


AND THE APPLE DROPS. . .

________________________________________

For anyone else during that time period to see

an apple drop and connect it with the existence

of gravity, or to even conceive of the concept

of gravity, they needed to be aware of all the

constructs, schools of thought and applications

of physics and mathematics. Newton took his

ideas, thoughts and learnings and created

something new. A new Model of thinking that

could be applied to the world of physics.

We are by no means creating a new law of

physics, far from it, but the same theoretical

process still applies. Understand the current

thinking and apply it to something new.

When you look at the top Brands in the world

today, specifically the Brands that have been

consistently at the top, you see remarkable

things. All these Brands, i.e. Facebook,

Google, Apple, Nike, IBM, Starbucks and so

forth exhibit very human elements.

In other words, they stand for a higher ideal,

they are focused on a purpose, telling stories,

a stable identity and developing relationships.

They exhibit other elements as well; the way

these Brands developed was in a very stable,

holistic human manner. What we found is that

factors are also prevalent in other things such


as big societal movements such as religion or

the Renaissance.

Brand Strategy might be a relatively new

concept, but all of these traits and factors

are age old, very human and very well

researched and documented by Psychologists and

Sociologists. If these factors are universal,

researched and stable, then it makes sense for

us to try and understand the history,

psychology and sociology behind these human

factors.

By looking at the work done by great

Psychologists, Sociologist and Brand thinkers,

we were able to bridge the gap between Brand

thinking and consumer behaviour, and

incorporate all our thinking into one model.

If you put all of the key insights and

learnings together into a system, you get the

Human Brand Theory©.


WHAT IS THE HUMAN BRAND THEORY?

________________________________________

“A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a

product, service, or company.”

Marty Neumeier – The Brand Gap

WHAT IS THE BIG IDEA?

A successful Brand is just like an influential

Human Being that stands for a higher ideal. He

/ she has a big dream that drives everything

that he / she does. An identity that makes him

/ her compelling and an engaging individual.

And he / she needs to build lasting

relationships in order to grow, thrive and to

be happy.

In a world where Brands need to become more

human, we need to have a methodology that

answers to this need.

The Human Brand Theory© is a Brand development

methodology that is simple to understand,

scientific in application and predictable in

outcome.

Using our understanding of the Psychology and

Sociology, and by using the associated

theoretical and tested models behind these key

“Human Brand Success” Parameters, we are able

to create a methodology to build better Brands.


THE APPLICATION OF THE THEORY

________________________________________

A NEW DEFINITION

If a Brand is a platform for an idea, and that

idea is based on a higher principle and ideal

to improve human life or add value, we can

present the following definition of what a

Brand is.

“A Brand”

“An entity and force of positive social

influence and change.”

In light of this, we can create the following

definition for Brand Strategy:

“Brand Strategy”

Brand Strategy is the organic development of an

entity through utilising societal relevance,

resonance and credibility in order to achieve

transcendence.

All systems and theories have laws that govern

their inner workings. The Human Brand Theory©

is no different.


Putting this into practice – the 7 new laws of

Brand Building.

The Seven Laws to Building Human Focused

Brands:

1. Successful Brands are guided and driven

by a single emotive, unchanging and

inspiring dream.

2. Successful Brands have a stable identity

that develops over time in a systematic

manner.

3. Successful Brands evolve and adapt in

order to survive, but are always rooted

in a single dream and stable identity.

4. Successful Brands are socially relevant

in everything they do, say and how they

express themselves.

5. Successful Brands resonate with their

peers, friends and family through

expression, experience and communication.

6. Successful Brands strive to develop in

order to become more than Brands but

social shapers, identifiers and leaders –

forces of change and influence.

7. Successful Brands are focused on building

long-term relationships that are based on

mutual respect and understanding –

Rapport.

The 7 Laws are proprietary to the Human Brand Theory©


THE BRAND SUCCESS MODEL

________________________________________

The Brand Success model is a model that has

been developed through understanding and

looking at the various psychological and

sociological constructs that determine

successful and stable human development and

influence.


This model works on the basic inside and

outside principle. The outside factors cannot

function without the inside factors and vice

versa.

Right at the core of the success of the Brand

are three key elements:

1. The Dream of the Brand

2. The Identity

3. The Relationship

The external side of the model is filled with

factors that are all results of robust and

successful internal factors working together –

i.e. the internal health of the Brand is

intact.

1. Stability of the Brand over time.

2. Rapport and the constant building of

Rapport.

3. Transcendence and constantly striving to

be more than just a Brand, but to get

people to buy into an idea, ideology and

dream.


A NEW MODEL TO VIEW BRANDS THROUGH

________________________________________

If we say that this is the model of Brand

success and if this is our definition, what do

we need to do to ensure that a Brand achieves

it dreams and ultimately become a successful

and iconic Brand?

In order to do this, we need to focus on

viewing the Brand as a holistic construct. “A

singular entity that is more than the sum of

its parts.”

We cannot simply focus on the positioning of

the Brand, or the Brand message, we need to

judge, analyse and influence the entire Brand

to ensure that the Brand in its entirety

answers to the Brand Success Model, so that the

Brand can grow as predicted by the Human Brand

Theory© Brand growth model.

In regards to the Human Brand Theory©, we can

say that the holistic Brand consists of the

following components:

1. Dream/ Development

2. Mind / Identity

3. Body / Visual Expression

4. Environment / Where the Brand lives and

interacts


The Holistic Brand

It is clear that these four components of a

Brand are not only interlinked and heavily

influential on each other, but are also

important to consider when analysing the Brand

and to understand how healthy the Brand is in

each of these components.

In the ever increasing market environment, it

will become impossible to influence Brand

success if we only focus on singular components

of the Brand.

The Human Brand Theory© was born and

conceptualised from the dream to both simplify

Brand Strategy, and also to make the Brand

Strategy process and methodology more effective

and predictable.


THE IMPLICATION OF THE HUMAN BRAND THEORY©

_______________________________________________

Due to the rich theoretical information and

background research that went into the

development of the Human Brand Theory©, we can

effectively help Brands with the following:

> More effectively define their Brand Dream

and Ideal.

> More effectively construct a unique and

engaging Brand Identity that people can

relate to and want to engage with.

> Building more committed and longer

lasting relationships.

> To more effectively grow holistically as

a stable Brand.

> More effectively define their product

offering.

> More effective communication strategy

development at the most relevant contact

and interaction points.

> More optimally use their Brand Portfolio

to build lifelong relationships and

ensure Brand growth.

> More customised solutions to help Brands

grow optimally.

> Help Brands to become more than just

Brands, but become iconic.


> Always stay relevant to consumers and the

environment.

> Constant return on investment as the

Brand is more relevant, constantly

innovative and the consumers are more

committed to the Brand.

> Constant return of investment as the

Brand is constantly talking to committed

Brand consumers who are in a relationship

with the Brand.

> Help Brand ideas to tap into societal

movements and trends, and accordingly

increase consumer buy in and relationship

building with the Brand.

> Help Brands to build and create better,

more relevant and engaging Brand Stories.

> To more effectively and systematically

build relationships.


THE FUTURE AND BEYOND

________________________________________

Using the insights and understandings gained

through our year and a half of in-depth

research into Brand success, societal movements

and human development and influence, we have

been able to develop a very stable and

pragmatic Brand building methodology.

Through using this methodology we have

developed a whole range of Brand success

interventions and products to ensure that

Brands develop in a stable manner, that the

Brands are driven by and rooted in the correct

values and ideals and that the Brand builds

mutually beneficial relationships. More than

just a methodology, we have developed a

language and a different paradigm to

approaching not only Brands, but also Brand

success.

When Newton wrote his Princepia Mathematica,

there were reportedly only a handful of people

that could read and understand this piece of

literature – our goal is to help people better

understand the needed complexities of a Brand

and Brand Strategy.

If you want to know more about our thinking and

methodology, please feel free to contact us for

a personal presentation.


ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Andre le Roux is a Brand Strategist, Mentor and

Brand Theorist who has been working in the

Brand Strategy industry for more than 10 years.

He loves his job, thinking too much about

Branding, dreaming about the power of Brands

and better ways of building better Brands.

Thys de Beer is the Lead Navigator of Brand

Strategy at The Vega School of Branding

Leadership, as well as the head of the Honours

Programme at Vega. He has been in the industry

for over 10 years and is currently busy with

his Master’s Degree thesis on the Artist as a

Brand.


The End

Please contact us for more information. Please note that all work pertaining to the

Human Brand Theory© is Proprietary and that all information and constructs

appropriated in order to build the model will be correctly referenced.

the human brand theory booklet 1

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