The primary definition of ‘vivid’, according to Google, is “producing powerful feelings or strong, clear images in the mind.“
We’ve been using this great adjective for some time now, in pitches and proposals, to describe the value a brand can offer a business.
OK, it may not be a groundbreaking word to use to describe what good brands should be, or furthermore the effective marketing of that brand. Smarter minds than mine will have probably referenced it, or one of many synonyms, to make this very same point.
In fact, it’s pretty much branding 101 to suggest that a brand should transcend the operational or transactional role of a business into something more altogether inspiring and emotive, by taking the value it creates, and framing it as profoundly impactful and ownable. In other words, making a meaningful impression.
But yet, in my experience of the lexicon of terminology we use to describe brands, ‘vivid’ doesn’t seem to come up quite as often as we’d think. And yet, when you consider that earlier definition, it translates so well.
It helps explain why brands revert to overused platitudes? How many ‘Reimagining…this’ or ‘Reinventing…that’ do we encounter nowadays as businesses scramble to position themselves as supposedly innovative (oh, the irony)?
Or aligning themselves with ‘moments’ or ‘creating experiences’? (because, millennials presumably?). I could go on, as I’m sure you could (in fact, Hubspot has a top 10 list with a few more).
Terms like these, perhaps once upon a time, could have been considered original. But now, having been rinsed within an inch of their usable life, lose sight of what a more vividly defined brand proposition can offer. That’s the anchor point for the way a business tells its story to the outside world. The way it can truly differentiate itself from its competitors. So it has to feel genuine and from the heart, or it loses that power.
I suspect a big reason is that it’s not easy. In fact, it’s fucking hard! It takes exhaustive exploration (often introspective), a thorough understanding of the world you’re impacting and some genuine commitment to come up with something truly compelling.
For a pithy example of how vividness can transform a story, we use a tale of an army veteran returning home, starting a small business, and taking up ping pong and long-distance running.
Those ingredients could seemingly produce something fairly drab, right? But when combined with creativity, imagination and craft, you get one of the most iconic and well-loved cinematic stories of the last 30 years…
Not to mention (as our design director pointed out recently) one littered with distinctive ‘assets’ to make it even more memorable in the mind of its audience — quotable lines, recognisable music, distinctive aesthetic etc.
While Forrest Gump isn’t a ‘brand’ in the purest sense, it serves as a parallel for the value of vividness. A potentially mundane story (on paper) is more captivating when it’s told in an original and emotionally engaging way.
That’s really what every agency, brand and marketing professional should aspire to achieve. Finding ways to transform the functional aspects of their business into something that captures imaginations to help them stand out in people’s minds.
Of course, the building blocks also have to be in place. For one, an armoury of brand assets which help create clear associations with your business. But what is so often neglected is the deployment of such assets, or the way they’re used to tell stories and promote brands. All too often the hard work taken to define a brand and its strategy veers of course, and we go from brilliantly vivid to disappointingly drab.
So, I would say, as checkboxes go… asking yourself whether your brands proposition, or the next campaign idea you have, feels as vivid as it could is a reasonable starting point. Shoot for the stars, because even if you miss, at least you’re aiming high.
