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1. A holistic and integrated vision ofbrands would
allow stakeholders to coordinate these two functions
and create as many synergies as possible, taking
advantage of these two spheres. Nowadays brands
may generate economic value as long as they create
social value: the bottom line improves if people’s
lives improve. Such is the premise argued by the
book titled Brand Society, authored by Martin
Kornberger, Professor at the Copenhagen Business
School (Denmark).
Despite being used a lot, brands have not been
sufficiently studied. This means that brands are used
forobtainingimmediateeconomicreturnsratherthan
for transforming the society and people’s lives that
in turn would lead to economic results. Kornberger
believes that now is the time to change the situation
and try to establish close and well-coordinated
relations between producers and consumers.
Brands represent a new form of organising
production and managing consumption. These two
areas have been separate since the beginning of the
Industrial Revolution. However, their convergence
that is taking place today heralds a new era that
may be named the Second Renaissance, whose key
features are the following:
1. Brands are the reference point in a system of
hyper communications: the value chain turns
into the value network with multiple actors.
2. Brands represent the fundamental
values of life: freedom, happiness, love,
desire or the feeling of membership.
3. Brands recognise the authority of their creators,
i.e. consumers and other stakeholders.
On the one hand, brands are transcending their
habitual domain (organisation) and stretch the
borders of influence. On the other hand, this may
become possible only if they cut across the entire
society (its political, ethical and social aesthetic
dimensions) and turn into a link connecting the
two areas mentioned earlier.
A Combination of Magic and Logic
Brands should conform to a formula that is easy
to proclaim but difficult to implement: a mix of
We have witnessed how the phenomenon of brands transformed the economy
and the way of people’s lives all around the world. Brands constitute part of
both the economic dimension (as a business tool) and the social dimension (as
a sociological phenomenon). They are part of these dimensions and have the
power to change them.
L12/2014
Why are Brands Able to
Transform Organisations and
People’s Way of Life?
Brand
Book Reviews
This document was prepared by Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership and contains references to the book Brand
Society by Martin Kornberger, Professor at the Copenhagen Business School (Denmark), published by Cambridge in 2010.

2. Insights 2
Why are Brands
Able to Transform
Organisations and
People’s Way of Life?
¨Brands should
conform to a
formula that is
easy to proclaim
but difficult
to implement:
combine logical
elements (the
functionality)
and magic
elements (the
content)”
logical and magic elements, where logic stands for
functionality and the benefits of using brands, and
magic is manifested in their content, the fact that
they turn into symbols that express human desire for
something important. For example, Lexus represents
human desire of luxury (realisation) and at the same
time – a good and elegant car; 3M is associated with
innovation (progress) and at the same time a good
adhesive tape; Nike is associated with achievement
(success) and good sports footwear; and Disney is
associated with entertainment (imagination) and
good animated movies.
Brands provide solutions for improving our lives
and at the same time leave impressions in our lives:
brands shape humans in the same way as humans
create brands. Ways of life associated with brands
turn into archetypes of human behaviour, tastes,
beliefs, preferences and life styles.
Logic and magic are two sides of the same coin: they
need each other and support each other. Magic leads
to personal interpretation of some social symbols,
while logic enables rational use of global resources.
The Nature of Organisations is Changing
The monopoly of businesses for instituting
organisation and production is giving way to
creativity of communities and social networks.
That’s why the new environment and the new reality
of brands are changing the nature of organisations.
Boundaries between the internal and external are
disappearing, giving way to greater interaction
between stakeholders. Organisational culture is
changing towardslower fragmentation and fewer
internal divisions. Management is no longer
governed by the ideas of authority and control,
and includes more elements of autonomy and
cooperation. Thus, traditional job division gives
way to hybrid and mixed profiles. Finally, identity is
no longer a cognitive and rational process – it is the
combination of experience and emotions.
Another trend is that new brands maximise their
level of connection with the environment, fleeing
the closed vision focused on internal processes
and events. Thus brands challenge the traditional
identity of companies, their capacity to innovate
and their organisational culture, by putting
them in touch with new realities and new needs
– something typical for a society that from pure
consumption developed features of production and
turned into the society of consumers-producers
that it is now.
Brands Drive the Development
of Capitalism
Another point argued by Brand Society is that
brands are an important element for understanding
the changes in the society, economy and
capitalism. Brands drive management through
identity, values and life style and act as a link
that connects business and culture that has been
missing up until now.
Capitalismusedtobecold,rationalandmechanical.
Brands, on the contrary, encourage companies to
be more approachable, emotional and organic,
thus overcoming traditional separation between
business and society and operating as a bridge
between the two worlds, changing the rules of the
game and introducing new rules that replace the
old ones.
This change affects not only corporate and business
brands, but also other brand types – e.g. regional
and institutional brands, and respectively other
types of organisations: city councils, governments,
associations, political parties, trade unions and, to
Graph 1: Some suspicions and differences (maybe in degree, not in kind)
Source: Martin Kornberger, 2011
Low Interactivity Increasing Interactivity
Boundaries Flexible yet relatively stable Dissolving of internal / external
and emergence of shared
platforms?
Organizational culture Fragmentation around internal
fault lines
Increased fragmentation
resulting from interaction with
communities / tribes?
Control and power Management as authority Who owns the brand?
Organizational design Division of labour to minimize
transaction coasts
Organizing networks, hybrids and
ecologies?
Organizational identity Identity as relational cognitive
process
Experiential identities and
aestheticization of processes of
organizing?

3. Insights 3
Why are Brands
Able to Transform
Organisations and
People’s Way of Life?
“Brands drive
management
through
identity, values
and life style
and transform
society,
economy
and even
capitalism”
experience of Internet navigation and browsing
numerous web pages leads users to increase
theirdemand forsimplicity and easy access. We
understand when a website is poorly designed
and associate our disappointment and frustration
directly with the brand.
Conclusion: Psychology, Sociology
and Economy Converge
The intersection of these three disciplines gives birth
to a new kind of brand that brings together lifestyle,
social values and economic value creation, because
today brands transform the way people live and
consume as well as the way companies produce goods.
Brandscreateanewkindofbusinessculturethatismore
open and encourages real and virtual communities
to interact, thus implementing new ideas and using
brands as intermediaries in this process.
Therefore, the key to innovation is convergence
of ideas and passions for creating new realities.
Innovation develops around brands, meaning
that innovations management is performed
through brand management and vice versa, and
that innovation and brand express life styles,
fundamental values and ways of life. Brands can
be viewed as fait accompli or accomplished facts,
they are widely used without being properly studied.
Thus more research is needed in the area in order
to enable brands accomplish their mission: combine
the social and economic dimensions in order to
create value.
a lesser extent, NGOs. Brands create the scene and
act as a guide used by people to plan their lives.
The Unstoppable Rise of Design
When we think about such brands as Apple, possibly
what first springs to mind is design.Apple above all
is about design, including the design of innovations.
Its design is friendly, easy, simple and practical. And
among other things, currently brands should be
associated with design. Design should power all their
facets. Now it is not only about designing a brand,
but also about incorporating design into the brand as
the fundamental part of the brand in the context of
the new conceptual era driven by the Internet.
Other brands follow suit, such as Ikea (which
is pure design in itself), Google (in terms of its
simplicity), C&A, Samsung, Starbucks or Sephora.
And this design may manifest itself in graphics,
product design, processes, layout, service, user
experience or interaction.
Designhasturnedintothekeyingredientofanygreat
experience that a brand may offer to stakeholders.
New businesses focus specifically on design, placing
it in the centre of their brand strategy in order to
achieve innovation and differentiation. As brands
expert Marty Neumeier puts it, brands should
express beauty and be beautiful.
Expectations of stakeholders, and customers in
particular, have grown in what concerns design.
This is probably explained by the fact that the
Gráfico 2: Emotional benefits of a designful company
Source: The Designful Company by Marty Neumeier.
Traditional company Designful company The result
Puts a premium on the ability to
empathize with people outside the
company, which creates a feeling of
connnectedness
Excitement and satisfaction
Respect comes from merit more than
position, imparts self-esteem
A can-do feeling replaces a can’t do
feeling
A feeling of shared success
The feeling we get from caring about
beauty is hope for the future
Focus on customers
About vision and
creativity
Jobs are project oriented
Risk is part of the
innovation process
Workers collaborate
Beauty is built in
Focus on costs
About command and
control
Jobs are role oriented
Risk taking is discouraged
Workers are siloed
Beauty is tacked on
instead of: shift to:

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