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How is Branding used to Mould Public Opinions of American Hip Hop Artists?
Today, we mostly take a product’s functional characteristics for granted and while brands are mostly about image, it is no longer just their own image – it is also our image. – Wally Olins pg 14
Branding these days is largely about involvement and association. The outward and visible demonstration of private and personal affiliation… Diesel, Adidas and W hotels is one lifestyle, Hermes, Ralph Lauren and the Ritz is another. You can mix ‘n’ match to customise, enhance and underline your own particular self-perception. – Wally Olins pg 14
…It has spread into education, sport, fashion, travel, theatre, art, theatre, literature, the region, the nation and virtually anywhere else you can think of… compete in the emotional territory of people’s hearts and minds with commercial brands for the money in consumers’ pockets. – Wally Olins pg 15
…People all over the world, from virtually every country in every continent, drape themselves from head to foot in clothing bearing the names and symbols of fizzy drinks, running shoes, cell phones, universities, football teams, skis, construction equipment, or anything else with which they feel an affiliation. – Wally Olins pg 15
Many great brands are like amoebae or plasticine. They can be shaped, twisted, and turned in all sorts of ways yet still remain recognizable. That’s why so many brands can be divorced from the product/services with which they were originally associated. – Wally Olins pg 18
They can compress and express simple, complex and subtle emotions. They can make those emotions immediately accessible, in many cases overriding mountainous barriers like ethnicity, religion and language. They have an immense emotional content and inspire loyalty beyond reason. – Wally Olins pg. 19
Why are brands such a clear and unique manifestation of our time?
Simply because in a world that is bewildering in terms of competitive clamour, in which rational choice has become almost impossible, brands represent clarity, reassurance, consistency, status, membership – everything that enables human beings to help define themselves. Brands represent identity.
