Andy Mosmans: Branding: From culture to nature

Great brands aren't built on what makes us consumers, but on what makes us human

Lately, I hear more and more creative agencies and their strategy directors talking about culture. Understanding audiences, their behaviours, interests, influencers, trends and cultural codes.

Becoming part of culture. Even shaping it. All very interesting. But is that really what building strong brands is about? I don't think so.

Because while culture changes, human nature remains remarkably consistent. And great brands aren't built on what's relevant today, but on what remains relevant tomorrow. Not on culture, but on nature.

From consumers to humans

Much of contemporary brand strategy focuses on what distinguishes people. Generations, demographics, lifestyles, cultural communities and consumer behaviours.But shouldn't we focus more on what connects them? Not what makes someone a Gen Z consumer or a millennial professional. But what makes someone human. What drives us? What do we fear, desire, hope for and believe in? What gives our lives meaning?

The need to belong. To feel safe. To be free. To create. To achieve. To love. To enjoy life. These fundamental human motivations have been with us for thousands of years. Culture is how we express ourselves. Nature is why we express ourselves. And branding should start with the why.

What drives us?

The late Dutch branding thinker Giep Franzen wrote a book called Wat drijft ons/What Drives Us? Perhaps the most important question in branding. Simon Sinek's Start With Why and The Infinite Game essentially explore the same principle: enduring businesses are driven by a belief or cause beyond their products and short-term performance.

And in Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari explains how humanity's extraordinary success is rooted in our ability to collectively believe in shared stories, what he calls imagined orders. Brands are imagined orders too. They exist because people believe they mean something. But while the stories we create are imaginary, the human motivations that make us believe in them are very real. The strongest brands connect the two.

The eternal value of values

Look at some of the world's strongest and most enduring brands. Apple stands for creativity. Not just through Think Different, but through products that empower people to create and express themselves. Volvo stands for safety. A value that has guided its engineering, innovation and business for decades. Coca-Cola stands for happiness. A universal human aspiration that transcends generations and cultures.

Douwe Egberts stands for togetherness. Coffee is the product. Human connection is the meaning. Virgin stands for freedom. Challenging conventions, disrupting established industries and doing things differently. Airbnb stands for belonging. Its very identity is built around the idea of Belong Anywhere. Even its logo, the Bélo, symbolises belonging. And its campaign Don't Go There. Live There. transformed travel from visiting places into feeling part of them. These brands don't own these values, nor do they always live up to them perfectly.

But they have made them central to their identity and, importantly, their business. Because these aren't merely communication concepts. They're business concepts. They influence what companies make, how they innovate, how they behave and how they compete. Branding isn't about finding something interesting to say. It's about finding something meaningful to be. And to become.

Culture changes. Meaning endures

Of course culture matters. It determines how people express their needs, which symbols resonate and how brands connect with society. But culture should be the expression of brand meaning, not its foundation. How we express happiness, freedom, creativity or belonging changes continuously.

The underlying human needs don't. The meaning remains. The manifestation changes. And that's precisely what makes strong brands both consistent and contemporary. They can continuously reinvent their expression without reinventing their essence. I sometimes get the impression that agencies are so busy making brands culturally relevant that they forget to make them fundamentally relevant.

Being part of a conversation isn't the same as having something meaningful to contribute. Attention isn't affection. Visibility isn't value. A brand can be culturally hot and strategically hollow. It can go viral without becoming vital.

Ultimately, branding is about creating meaning. Connecting a business to something people genuinely care about. Something bigger than its products, its category or the latest cultural trend. So yes, study culture. Understand audiences. Follow trends. But look deeper.

Beyond consumers, towards humans. Beyond behaviours, towards motivations. Beyond trends, towards values. Beyond culture, towards nature. Because culture tells us what's happening. Human nature tells us why it matters. And that's where great branding begins.

From what is trending to what is transcending.

Andy Mosmans is the founder & CEO of VENGEAN.

www.vengean.com

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