Anthropology and the brand
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IAN RYDER is Vice-President, Brand & Communications, EMEA, for Unisys Corporation. He has held senior marketing roles in several major technology companies and has provided independent brand strategy advice to a range of other companies. He is an international speaker and a lecturer on the subjects of brand strategy, reputation and customer management, and has published widely. He is a chairman of business groups, sits on many academic boards, and is a non-executive adviser to the British Olympic Association.
Abstract The one unmoving, irrefutable fact in this ever-changing world is that people are people first. This paper is an abstract from a book entitled ‘Beyond Branding’. The chapter that this paper focuses on suggests in its thesis that successful brand management has always struck at the many often-subconscious drivers of Homo sapiens. It further suggests that there is huge gain for those companies that really begin to understand and use this in their business and marketing strategies. As the social science that studies the origins and social relationships of humans, anthropology is the source from which the next great companies will be drawing their inspiration.
INTRODUCTION ‘To manage brands is to manage society — if we can capture a moment it is surprising the catalytic changes we can make.’
Ian Ryder Unisys, Baker’s Court, Bakers Road, Uxbridge UB8 1RG, UK Tel: 018 95 237137 E-mail: [email protected]
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Anthropology may seem like a strange word to be including in a journal that seeks to push the leading edge of brand thinking, yet the only strange thing is the extent to which it has previously been ignored. As the social science that studies the origins and social relationships of human beings, it is a central discipline that explains much of how brands work through the many societies and cultures across the world. Let me just ask you a question or two. As a CEO, other senior officer (CxO) or manager, do you really care about issues of sustainability? About why your customers and other stakeholder groups behave the way
they do? About why you and your fellow managers and employees behave the way that you and they do? After all, with the average tenure of a CEO now down to around two years, where is the incentive to take the long-term view? Well you should care, if only as a human on our planet for the briefest of moments. The world is evolving and you and your brand are integral parts of this pattern. Let me share some reasons why working with the natural systems of the world is both essential for corporate success and also can make you feel good. The word ‘anthropology’ perhaps has a poor brand image itself, as it sends images of apes, hominids and the old TV zoologist Desmond Morris. Yet despite his TV image, Desmond Morris was one of the leading anthropologists of his day, writing such books as ‘The Naked Ape’ in which he points out:
䉷 HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 1479-1803 BRAND MANAGEMENT VOL. 11, NO. 5, 346–356 MAY 2004
ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE BRAND
‘Homo sapiens has remained a naked ape ne
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