You can make anything into a brand

You can kind of make anything into a brand. Really, almost any idea that you have can be made into a brand. Your new brand may not be successful in sales, legible in brand identity, or ever even exist in the world, but anything can be made into a brand. A brand is a concept, an idea, something you want to communicate. Brands can be a product, a company, works of art, or a way of being. Successful brands operate in a way that is authentic to a core idea or values. To start a brand, think about what you care about or want to say, and think of ways to build in the real world with those new ideas.

Take Supreme for an example. Supreme is a brand that sells a lot of random products that may not seem too related at first glance, from a single brick stamped with its logo to expired Oreos, and also clothing. Supreme is a brand that generates hype for itself, then drops collections of clothing along with the novelty items. They manufacture quality products and only sell in limited quantities. The combination of the hype, the novelty and the scarcity generates demand for their goods, so much so that customers camp out before drops and resell prices are reliably high for past products.

While the company wasn’t founded solely to raise funds for environmental causes and to fight climate change, Patagonia has essentially become a company whose brand is environmentalism. “Rather than selling the company or taking it public, Mr. Chouinard, his wife and two adult children have transferred their ownership of Patagonia, valued at about $3 billion, to a specially designed trust and a nonprofit organization. They were created to preserve the company’s independence and ensure that all of its profits — some $100 million a year — are used to combat climate change and protect undeveloped land around the globe,” reports the New York Times.

A doesn’t have to be for a cause, although it can be. A brand can just be a collection of related products. Whatever makes that line of products similar to each other and unique from others is the brand’s essence. This can be a way to describe luxury brands. Brands like Gucci, Restoration Hardware, Bentley and Rolex are all brands that are known for their craft, design and lifestyle. The high quality manufacturing process for these brands’ products are what make them unique and desirable their customers.

Anything can be a brand. If you want to make a brand for yourself, all you have to do is think about what you want to do as a brand, or what you want to say. Make a first product that communicates your goal, then make a collection. Your brand can sell goods, services, events, entertainment, information, or even nothing at all. Think of what you want to do, and then figure how to get there. Why not start today?