I am about to really go off the deep end. I want to spend some time with you talking about something pretty strange, holograms and the building of powerful brands. But to understand this madness you’re going to have to forgive me for going into a bit of bizarre science.
In 1982, a remarkable event took place. At the University of Paris a research team led by physicist Alain Aspect performed what may turn out to be one of the most important experiments of the 20th century. Aspect and his team discovered that under certain circumstances subatomic particles, such as electrons are able to instantaneously communicate with each other regardless of the distance separating them. It doesn't matter whether they are 10 feet or 10 billion miles apart. Somehow each particle always seems to know what the other is doing. The problem with this feat is that it violates Einstein's long-held tenet that no communication can travel faster than the speed of light.
But to understand this strange assertion, one must first understand a little about holograms.
A hologram is a three dimensional photograph made with the aid of a laser. To make a hologram, the object to be photographed is first covered in the light of the laser beam. Then a second laser beam is bounce off the reflected light of the first and the resulting interference pattern (Where the two laser beams commingle) is captured on film. When the film is developed, it looks like a meaningless swirl of light and dark lines. But as soon as this film is illuminated by another laser beam, a three-dimensional image of the original object appears!
Ready for the strange part?
The fact that it is now a 3D object is cool but let’s say you decided to take a hologram of a rose and cut it in half, and then illuminate the halves by a laser, each half will still be found to contain the entire image of the rose. If the halves are divided again, each snippet of film will always be found to contain a smaller but intact version of the original image. Unlike normal photographs, every part of a hologram contains all the information possessed by the whole.
The "whole in every part" nature of a hologram provides us with an entirely new way of understanding brands.
Before I understood holograms I struggled with the definition of a brand. Graphic designers would tell me that a brand was the mark and all the identity material they created. Advertising agencies would tell me that the brand is when you do good ads that create the brand. And CEO’s and CMO’s would often say the tagline was the brand. But those answered did not satisfy me. A brand had to be more. I had to create my own definition that would bring the idea of the brand into focus.
A Brand is all the information and ideas associated with your product/service that creates a distinct customer experience.
The information or ideas can be:
Real or perceived
Rational or emotional
Physical or sensory
Thought or felt
Form and function
Planned or unplanned
Everything is the brand because all the parts represent the whole. Or in holographic terms, the "whole in every part"
What does this tell us? If you break any part of your business off and looked at it individually it should represent what you want your brand to stand for in the heart of your customer. If you look at any of your sales reps, they should be what you want in the heart of your advertiser. From the front door of your business, to your business cards, each part represents your entire brand.
Is this a lot to consider?
You bet.
But is it worth it?
There is no question.
Each touch point of your brand tells the whole story. Each touch point should push the brand forward. If a touch point is not pushing the brand forward it’s pulling it down.
The reason why a Holographic film continues to project the entire picture is because each peace contains the very essence of the whole. Each part of your brand has to do the same.
