First meeting

Hi guys,

these are the conclusions that we reached through the brainstorm during our first meeting. They are mainly key words and concepts that might be useful for the future when we'll develop the activities and the whole plan. Periodically I'll post all the developments of the project.

Please if you find revelant information, ideas post them here. This is our place for internal communication while we are working by separated so it's important to keep it updated and alive.

BRANDING- BRAINSTORM

Brainstorm key words

Lifestyle
Global village
Quality
Values
Family, friendship
L. Vuitton
Mc Donalds
Coca-Cola
Adidas
Logo
Visual identity
Media, news, ads
Name
Society vs. individual
Money
Communication
Marketing
Fashion
Trendsetters
Discourse
Slang "Brand whore"
Subculture
Competition
Trademarks
Authorisation
Validation, copyrights
Fake vs. authentic
Art institutions
Trust building
Mercedes Benz : status, wealthy, luxury

MEETING MINUTES
25.may.09

Branding

The main idea of branding is to create a necessity

World without brands? is it possible? NO
As a positive, idealized world? YES
Interesting for the design
But: Challenging
no identity
No categorization/ naming of the surrounding reality
‘No Name’ monopoly

is branding a reason for dicrimination ? YES
E.g. among teenagers, peer pressure (brands and status, higher ego, symbolic value, bias)
following one pattern, i.e. IKEA ( every dutch house has an ikea product)

Artificial attribution of value e.g. through the price (Starbucks' coffee)

The updating identity of brands.
E.g. Nike -> 1. hip-hop 2. urban lifestyle

Branding of people
as the ideas of people attached to certain brands
fashion victims
someone’s face, name, idealized image as a brand

Would you like the idea of artists creating brands? No/ Maybe certain types of brands (brands evaluation) e.g. Andy Warhol and the logo for the Rolling Stones
But-> fake image of brands, e.g. designed as if to look amateurish (Amrican Apparel)

Negative aspects of branding:

Waste, exploitation, sheer consumerism
Costs of the name
Monopoly of a brand (small brands that belong to a same family) e.g. Zara, Bershka
Fear of the unknown brands (it's better to buy those products that we already know instead of trying new ones)

Positive aspects (but can also become negative) of branding:

Connecting people
Creating identity, knowledge, information, discourse, e.g. "JUST DO IT"
Values behind the product
Spectacle, visual reality experienced everyday
Social control (in both directions, brand-consumers)
Labelling
Diversity (illusion of choice?)