How much attitude can a corporate brand tolerate?
“Solastalgic times” is what philosophy professor Dr. Jens Badura (HSLU) called it at the Brand Club event. Fortunately, he explained what he meant by this: solastalgia describes the stressful feeling of loss that arises when you witness the change or destruction of your own environment – when the familiar order disappears. From this perspective, we are all probably at least a little solastalgic today.
Brands as moral compasses?
In recent years, many brand specialists have concluded that when everything is in flux, companies must take a stand. As a rock in the surf. As a moral compass.
But Prof. Badura questioned this assumption: Companies, he argued, are not there to act as social correctors.
Ben Cohen, the founder of Ben & Jerry’s, recently provided a vivid example of this. He wanted to take a stand with a “Palestine ice cream” (watermelon flavor – green and red like the Palestinian flag). The catch: Ben & Jerry’s has been part of Unilever since 2020 – and Unilever had no interest in positioning itself with a political ice cream flavor. Rightly so. Because Unilever is committed to its shareholders, not to activism. Ben’s former rebel status at Ben & Jerry’s was lost when the company was sold. Ben Cohen is now marketing the ice cream as a private individual – taking a stand, yes, but please where it belongs.
Attitude is at the core
My branding colleague Bastian Schneider summed it up after the Brand Club event: “Brands must learn to orient themselves. Not (only) to trends, not to competitors, but to their inner compass – to what defines and drives them at their core. Those who do so will find customers who follow.”
Prof. Badura calls this “cultivating attitude instead of correcting attitude.” It’s about communicating what a company is all about at its core – not about imposing an attitude on it.
At Heads Corporate Branding AG, we call this “communicating inner beauty to the outside world.” We dig deep to understand what makes a company truly unique and relevantly different. This can be social engagement – for example, in a cooperative. Or simply a clear attitude in customer relations, product quality, or pricing.
Attitude is only good if it is genuine – and can be maintained over the years.
Photo: Miguel Bruna