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Recently I was in NYC and operated near and passed through Time Square a number of times, after the novelty and awe had passed (again), walking through time square was a laborious mission and afterward I felt like taking a bath to wash some of the brand-coating off me.
It’s very obvious in Time Square but so much of where we move has become a media space and along with all the electronic media we are being bombarded by messages and brands. In NYC you notice how the New Yorkers are completely unphased by messages and action; they have kicked their selective exposure and selective awareness into overdrive, simply so they don’t go mad from everything that’s being thrown at them.
Most of world isn’t quite at this volume of media but it is on the up everywhere. People are becoming more discerning consumers, they want less clutter. This ties in with peoples’ need for more holistic brands that deliver across the board not only visually or in presentation. Brands are measured on all senses, sight, sound, touch, smell and even more importantly these days consumers want to know that they aren’t helping to chop forests down, they want to know that no one was taken advantage of to make the product, the want the product to be locally made, they want a neat carbon footprint.
An interesting brand that may be leveraging brand clutter is Bottega they have opted for a high luxury clothing brand with minimal branding as we know it but they have rather chosen to have the quality of their garments as the ‘mark’ of their brand.
Our sight has been overwhelmed by marketing messages, vision is surely a brilliant place to hook people but more discerning consumers of messages prefer succinct imagery with meaningful stories to back it all up.
