// Not Every Brand Needs to Be Loved

A new map

Brand theory is crowded with models. Circles, pyramids, funnels – each promising to capture how brands work. Most are clever diagrams, but few are truly useful. They tend to be academic exercises, elegant but detached from the realities of building and leading brands.

This framework is different. It isn’t about prescribing a single “right” way to build a brand. It’s a map of the terrain – a way to understand the roles brands can play in our lives before we decide how to move forward.

Because not every brand can – or should – try to be loved. Imagine if every brand desperately sought your attention, like an over-enthusiastic acquaintance determined to be your best friend. Exhausting, right? Just as we cannot invest emotionally in every person we meet, we cannot form close relationships with every brand we encounter.

Brands are like people not only because we assign them traits, but because we interact with them as social actors. Sometimes we look for security, sometimes inspiration or validation, and sometimes just a straightforward solution to a problem. And, as with people, the relationship changes depending on context.

This is where the four categories of brands come in. They describe the main roles brands can play in our lives – from the reliable and the value-adding to the symbolic and the intimate.

Category 1: The Reliable

Simple and clear, these brands make everyday life easier. They help us navigate choices and identify the right product or service. Their role is fundamental: to provide confidence and reduce friction. They don’t need to be the coolest or the most innovative – they just need to work.

At this level, the brand is primarily for you and your wallet. It’s not about impressing others or creating cultural capital. Reliable brands are the unsung heroes of daily life: they deliver without shouting for attention.

From an evolutionary perspective, survival often comes down to being either strong or attractive. Reliable brands are the strong ones. They thrive on efficiency, scale, and the ability to press costs in production and distribution. They don’t seduce customers; their strength lies in doing the job, and doing it better than anyone else.

Category 2: The Value-Adding

Here the brand goes beyond reliability. Customers pay more to get more – better quality, extra features, or simply peace of mind. These are the brands you choose for yourself, not primarily to signal something to others.

Value-adding brands don’t dominate by strength. Instead, they compete by attraction – with smarter solutions, better design, or superior performance. Sometimes customers even need to justify their choice: explaining the more expensive grill, the premium lawnmower, or the organic groceries. The brand’s story reinforces the feeling that the choice was both rational and right.

This is the battleground of modern marketing, where competition is fierce. It’s where USP claims and lifestyle advertising are born. Think of commercials that show the happy family dinner, the freedom of the open road, or the perfect steak on the new gas grill. Lifestyle marketing is essentially storytelling – it paints a picture of a life made better by the product. And it works. But it also shows how far brands in this category are willing to go to win our sympathy.

Category 3: The Symbolic

Here the role of the brand changes fundamentally. It’s no longer just about personal value – function, quality, or reassurance. Value is created in relation to others. The brand becomes a social marker, a symbol of identity, status, and belonging. At this level, brands are no longer just products – they are tools for communication. Driving a certain car, wearing a certain logo, carrying a certain bag: it’s about what those choices say in a social context. These brands are far fewer than in the earlier categories, but their impact is far greater.

It’s easy to see why companies aspire to this category. Margins are higher, products can be priced far above their cost, and loyalty can defy rationality. But succeeding here is incredibly difficult. Symbolic brands don’t just fit into society – they start to shape it.

This is also where many strategies go wrong. Companies talk endlessly about “cultural relevance.” But trying to be relevant is not only desperate – it’s unappealing. The real distinction lies between trying to follow culture and actually creating it. True symbolic brands lead rather than adapt. They don’t just show happy families or aspirational lifestyles; they set the tone for how we see ourselves and each other.

At this level, brands no longer sell products. They sell ideas, dreams, and status. The product is simply a vehicle for self-expression – a way for customers to say: “This is who I am.”

Category 4: The Intimate

The fourth category operates by entirely different rules. Where value-adding brands seek accessibility and broad appeal, intimate brands build mystique, mythology, and exclusivity. Their products feel far removed from the everyday – rare, elusive, and precious in ways that go beyond money.

Here, subtlety is everything. These brands don’t shout. They whisper. Their value often lies in what is hidden, recognized only by those who know where to look. The relationship is deeply personal, almost private.

What truly defines intimate brands is a deeper dimension of appreciation. It’s not about quick thrills or public display. It’s about slow, cultivated enjoyment: the taste of a wine aged for decades, the quiet contemplation in front of a painting, or the sublime experience of a symphony in perfect acoustics.

This category is often dismissed as superficial luxury, but that misses the point. Appreciating beauty, art, or craft requires time and reflection. Intimate brands demand the same: slower, more thoughtful consumption. While symbolic brands can be flashy and spectacular, intimate brands offer a different kind of richness – one that matures over time and touches us in ways that are hard to describe.

Why This Matters

Reliable and value-adding brands make up the backbone of our economies. They are everywhere, and they play a crucial role in making life function. But identity and intimacy – the symbolic and the intimate – demand something else. They are not primarily marketing issues. They are strategic questions that must be addressed at the very top.

The four categories show that there is no single way to build a brand. Not every brand should be loved. Not every brand should be iconic. Some should simply make life easier. Others should add tangible value. A few will help us express who we are. And a rare handful will become personal treasures.