Jack Bleakley
The Garnier Brand World Talk
Story, signal, system, and why branding is getting more human.
This summer, Garnier brought its global team to L'Oréal's headquarters in Paris for Green Corridor Creativity Week, a week of inspiration for the people who build the brand. I gave the keynote.
The talk started with one question. Why are we drawn to certain brands and not others?
My answer: the strongest brands build worlds people want to enter.
The three foundations
I broke a brand world down into the three pillars we build every project on.
The Story is the belief at the centre, the reason the brand exists and the filter for every decision. The Signal is that story made visible, one asset nobody else could credibly own. The System is how the story holds at every touchpoint, across markets, teams and years.
What brings people in, and back
Then we looked at the forces that help people discover a brand world and keep them coming back to it: brand rituals, culture, nostalgia and collaborations.
I also made the case that branding is moving in a more human direction, and that Garnier is unusually well placed to benefit.
Why it was worth the trip
It was refreshing to see a global heritage brand invest in creativity and put it at the centre of its brand strategy.
Thank you to Diane, who leads global marketing for Garnier Haircare, for the invitation and for putting on the whole week. Her energy is infectious.
Bring the talk to your team
I give talks and workshops on brand world building for in-house teams. If you'd like one for yours, get in touch.
Or start where the talk did. The Brand World Score shows where your brand world breaks, in eight questions.